Gargoyles: Timedancer Vessels
by Gryphinwyrm7
Summary: Ancient Rome, in the throes of invasion. Guatemala, beset by the Conquistadors. Germany, where a Nazi ritual threatens to disaster. The lost sands of Egypt. Brooklyn know better than anyone how lonely the crashing waves of time can be, but his latest string of adventures might just bring him the thing he's missed most since his Timedance began...Friends.
1. Act 1 Rome 12 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Part 1**_

I glided swiftly over the churning obsidian sands. A vast sea of void-black sand as far as the eye could see. It churned and swirled beneath me, moving as though the sand was an ocean in the midst of a storm.

A column of black sand thicker than an obelisk lanced out of the ground and lashed at me like a an asp. I narrowly banked out of the way. Then another column lunged from beneath me. I narrowly avoided that as well. A laughing rasping voice hissed at me from beneath the black sands.

 _It doesn't matter how far away from the_ Deshret _you take my crown, little_ Harmakhis, _my Chaos is boundless, endless, and will always find you._

I didn't respond, just banked out of the path of the sand-geysers attempting to attack me.

The ground shook and a massive blood-red cobra, as large and as thick as the Nile itself burst forth from the sand. It's evil eyes locked on its prey…The sand columns burst forth from the ground and finally hit me…I tumbled onto the ground and the sands swallowed me up, suffocating me cutting off my air…and everything went black.

A different feeling of suffocation surrounded me. The familiar sensation of my body becoming flesh once more. The familiar urge to breath in fresh air. With a roar that rivaled that of any lion, I burst forth from my stone shell, scattering shards of stone skin around me.

I yawned and dusted myself off. I was within a tiny room on a typical Roman _Quinquereme_ oar ship. The room was meant for storage, but the Centurions, Cornelius and Gauccus who had been charged with escorting me to Rome insisted that I spend the day within the tiny room. They felt I was more secure in there during the day.

It wasn't that I disagreed with them, but more that the room was small, and not meant to hold a 4.16 cubit gargoyle. I couldn't even stretch my wings, and had to keep them cloaked around me at all times. It was cramped.

After ensuring that there were no more flecks of stone skin on my person, I crouched down and gathered up my magician's satchel and clothes, which were neatly folded at my feet. A simple linen loincloth, my _khopesh_ and ornamental scabbard. One gold Wadjet, some bands for my mane, and a deceptively simple ornamental false beard that I placed in my mane hair below my chin. Basic clothes that could be shed easily before the dawn. The Centurions had the clothes washed by the slaves daily, and placed at my feet for when I awakened.

Once clothed, I stepped out of my closet and spread my wings to their full 9-cubit length, stretching and enjoying the early evening cool. I noticed right away that the boat was no longer on the open ocean. The ship was now being rowed up a river. I could see several Roman villas nestled upon the banks of the river.

"Hail, Benuthet," Cornelius called as I exited my 'quarters'.

"Hail, Cornelius," I responded. I genuinely liked Cornelius. He was a friendly and open-minded human. A rare trait for their species, and an even rarer trait in Roman Centurions. Cornelius had never met a _Harmakhis_ (or 'gargoyle' as they say in Rome) before he'd been tasked with escorting me, and was quite curious and inquisitive.

As I was hatched and raised at the Library of Alexandria, I was more than eager to answer the questions of an inquisitive mind. Gauccus, the other Centurion was cordial with me, but clearly had no intention of being friendly or forming any kind of meaningful relationship. He was here because Caesar had ordered two Centurions to escort me to Rome. I was a duty to be fulfilled to him. Frankly, as this was friendlier than most humans get, I was more than willing to accept Gaucus's behavior.

"Good day's sleep?" Cornelius asked.

"Yes. Quite restful," I commented tactfully. I didn't mention the daymares that I'd been having ever since I'd undertaken this trip. And unlike humans and other non-gargate species, stone sleep ensures restfulness regardless of the quality of the dreams.

"Only a few hours until Rome," Cornelius said.

"This is the Tiber River then?" I asked.

"Of course," the Centurion replied. "We should be in port by _media noctis inclinatio_."

I clutched my satchel close to my body.

"Good," I said. "Will it be possible to-," I started to say, but at that moment, an orange light filled the sky above us.

"What the…?" Cornelius exclaimed, and drew his _spatha._ I quickly followed suit and drew my _khopesh._ I almost instinctively reached into my satchel for my wand, but realized at the last second that that was not a good idea, and stopped myself. Habits die hard.

The orange light appeared to be flames of some kind, they lasted only a moment, but a young _Harmakhis_ and a _sha_ tumbled out of the flames and landed haphazardly upon the deck of our ship. Still sprawled out on the ground, he looked up at the small contingent of Roman soldiers pointing weapons at him.

"Great," he muttered.

The _sha_ was on its feet first, taking a defensive stance, protective of his master. It was olive green with a gold-brown mane, not dissimilar to my own leonine mane, although it's face was flat and awkward looking, not at all like my own leonine features. He wore a golden collar around his neck.

"It is just a gargoyle," I said in Latin, sheathing my _khopesh_ and examining the new guest. The Roman Centurions didn't lower their blades, or relax an inch. The _Harmakhis_ stood up and dusted himself off. He had dark red skin, the color of _deshret_ sands, and shock white hair that went all the way down his back. His wings were leathery and he wore a simple leather loincloth with scabbard for a large sword of a kind I had never seen before.

"Whoa!" he said, holding his talons up in a show of arms, indicating that he had no weapons, save his sheathed sword. "Romans…Trippy. I'm guessing…B.C. then?"

The beaked stranger looked up at me. Though he was clearly speaking Latin, his words seemed to have no coherent meaning to me, but I was intrigued by this stranger and his _sha_ that had just appeared from nowhere.

"Greetings, friend," I said. "If I may so call you. I am Benuthet. You appear to be of Pictish stock to me. I have only seen pictures of your clan in Suetonius's _Gargoyle Clans of the Empire_ , but your appearance does match much of what he described."

"Uh…" the stranger intoned. "Sure. I'm Brooklyn. Nice to meet you Benuthet."

He held out his talon, I reached out and clasped it, the universal sign of friendship among _Harmakhis._ "You have a name?" I commented in genuine surprise.

"Yeah…so do you?" Brooklyn said, rubbing the back of his mane of hair.

"Yes," I said, "but my case is somewhat unusual. Thoth named me when I was a hatchling. Claimed it to be destiny."

"Destiny, huh?" Brooklyn said.

"Yes," I explained further. "Benuthet means 'Phoenix of Thoth'."

Brooklyn's face clouded over, as though my name troubled him.

"Hey," Brooklyn said, "Can you get them to stop?"

It was then that I realized that throughout this entire exchange, the Centurions had not moved. Their _spathas_ still pointed at Brooklyn.

"Cornelius," I intoned my friend. "Please, he clearly means no harm."

"He appeared out of fire," Cornelius replied. "That is not normal."

"I know very little of Pictish sorcery," I admitted. "But is it not clear that he has come for Caesar's call?"  
"I suppose," Cornelius said, slowly sheathing his blade. Gaucus remained on guard.

"We were tasked with bringing the Egyptian gargoyle to Rome. Not this Pictish beast," he spat. I winced. Both for Brooklyn's sake, but also somewhat for my own. While Augustus had made the Roman Clan into full citizens of the Empire, with all the rights afforded to said citizens, it was clear that many Romans, like Gaucus, would never see as anything but animals.

"Caesar requested that each clan within the Empire send their leader or Second to Rome to speak with the Roman Clan's leader," I said, drumming my talons along my arm in annoyance.

"Brooklyn," I said, "Are you the Leader or Second of your clan?"

"Second," he piped up, trying and failing hard not to look too smug.

"Then you have clearly come to the Fora?" I asked.

"Sure," Brooklyn said. "We'll go with that."

Gaucus eyed the Pictish _Harmakhis_ suspiciously, but did sheath his blade. Brooklyn looked wistfully at the clear night sky, as if remembering something melancholic. He quietly shook it off, and then turned towards me, we stepped aside, out of the centurions' earshot.

"So…" Brooklyn asked. "This Fora? Not got a lot of information here? Got any details for me?

"The New Olympians have made an offer to the clans throughout the Mediterranean," I said in a lower voice, taking Brooklyn's cue that he didn't want to be overheard.

"They wish to close off their island to outside trade. Too many incidents of human traders committing acts of violence against the Olympian merchants and travelers," I continued. "They wish to cut ties to the Empire entirely. Augustus is graciously allowing them to do so. And as unprecedented as this is…there is more. Apparently they are offering the clans of the Empire the opportunity to join them on their island before they close off their borders. The Roman Clan leader, Proclurus, believes this is not a decision to be taken lightly. So he requested that a representative from every clan in the Empire come to Rome and make a choice together. Proclurus has Augustus's ear, so the Emperor made a proclamation, and now we are on a boat just a few hours from Rome."

"Wow," Brooklyn said, reaching down and petting his _sha_ who nuzzled up against him. "So this is BIG, big."

"And on a personal note," I said. "I must speak to the Magus. Rome's official Sorcerer Supreme. I have a matter of some importance and delicacy that I must speak with him about."

"Is anyone else seeing the weird blue cloud?" Brooklyn asked. I realized that he was looking over my shoulder. I turned around.

"That is concerning," I commented dryly. A massive glowing blue funnel of energy appeared to be coming out of Rome (the city was visible from our ship now) and pouring into a massive glowing blue cloud.

"Someone is casting a spell," I said. "A massive spell. One with possibly a global reach. I think that only two other such spells have been cast in the history of the World."

"I see no cloud," Cornelius said.

Those words froze my blood and made my mane stand on end. I actually dropped my magician's satchel in horror.

"What's wrong?" Brooklyn demanded, as scooped my satchel up. I broke my promise to myself and began riffling through it. Looking for Ankhs, Wadjets, charms, anything that I might be able to use to set up a ward or protection circle. I carefully pushed the large object wrapped in sheepskin aside in the satchel and continued riffling, though I was quickly realizing that the object wrapped in the sheepskin was monopolizing the space in my satchel, and there was very little I had on hand to protect us.

"Brooklyn," I answered him. "If only we can see the spell…then the spell must be targeting us. And any other _Har—_ gargoyles. A global spell targeting literally every member of our species…this can't be good."

I felt a pulse of energy coming from the storm. I was too late.

The magic began to arc across invisible streams above us.

 _Oh!_ I thought. _Whoever is doing this is using the ley lines to arc the magic across the surface of the sphere of our world._ It was very impressive, if not terrifying. The scholar-mage in me couldn't help but be impressed. The gargoyle in me remained terrified however.

And the magic pulsed. A wave of blue light arced from Rome and all directions, and then slammed into us.

The sensation was one of the oddest I have ever felt. I turned to stone. It was the same sensation that I felt every day when the sun came up. My conscious mind drifted to sleep, and my body shifted. But unlike ordinary stone sleep, I did not stay stone for 12 hours…I never even had a chance to begin dreaming. I was stone for the briefest of instants…as when one has had an exhausting night and starts to drift off and lose consciousness before sunrise because it is because you are that tired…That is the nearest sensation to what I felt.

And then I awakened, roaring violently and exploding out of my stone shell, breathing in a huge swallow of air as one does every night right after awakening.

I wasn't alone either. Brooklyn and his _sha_ had both turned to stone as well, and had awakened alongside me.

"What the heck?" Brooklyn asked.

I turned and looked at Cornelius.

"How long were we stone?" I demanded.

"A mere second," he replied. "If even that."

"Someone cast a global spell," I said, sounding confused. "That turned every gargoyle to stone for a mere second? Why would anyone do such a thing? Even a gargoyle in flight wouldn't be harmed by such a spell."

"Yeah," Brooklyn said. "That is very weird."

"Odder still," Cornelius responded. "Your clothing became stone as well. It transformed even as you did. Even your blade. The stranger's too."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Brooklyn asked sounding confused.

But I was examining my clothes in shock. In the fear of the moment, I had not even noticed, but now my attention had shifted to my loincloth, my _khopesh_ , my false beard…all were intact. In fact…I think that they were cleaner that usual. There were no shards of skin caught inside my loincloth, and no rips or tears where the skin should have shredded the linen. Despite standing in a pile of my own stone skin.

"Our clothes are intact," I marveled.

"What?" Brooklyn asked.

"Our clothing became stone with us!" I said, still marveling over this.

Brooklyn blinked for a moment, and then let out a sharp gasp.

"It was the Humility Spell!" he exclaimed in excitement.

"The what?" I asked in confusion.

"I just witnessed one of the most important moments in gargoyle history!" Brooklyn said grinning like an idiot. "This is amazing! The Humility Spell was just cast! Wait…that's not going to reverse its effect on me, is it?"

He examined his loincloth and sword scabbard.

"Guess not,"

"What do you know of this?" I asked, frowning.

"A mystery that must wait, I'm afraid," Cornelius said. "We've arrived."

It was true. Throughout the entire series of events, the ship had kept rowing, and was now making port at a dock. I could see other ships making port as well. Cornelius lowered the gangplank. I checked my satchel and quickly stepped off the ship. Brooklyn whistled sharply, and his _sha_ was at his side in an instant. We both stepped on the dock.

Several gargoyles from other parts of the Mediterranean were already on the docks, or stepping onto the docks from other ships. I don't know how Augustus planned it, but he had arranged for almost every ship carrying a clan leader to reach Rome around the same time. Many of these ships must have departed over a year prior. My own journey had taken three months. The numbers floored me. I could see that the throng impressed Brooklyn too. This many representatives from this many clans…I had never seen anything like it, even back in Egypt where there were clans in every Nome.

Looking around I recognized the large bull-like features of the Cretan Clan Leader, the pale grey slender body of the Persian Clan Leader, the golden feathers and eagle-like features of the Athenian Clan. I had never met any gargoyles from these clans before, mind you, only read of them in Suetonius's book.

The strange, bat-like face and features of a gargoyle from one of the clans from Gaul caught Brooklyn's eye, and his gaze lingered on her for a few moments. She looked uncomfortable and walked away from him. Other gargoyles from smaller clans were also present, though I did not recognize all of the clans present; I knew that there were extant clans in Damascus, Kush, and Carthage.

"You don't talk to many females, do you Brooklyn?" I asked, noticing the Gaul Second walking away from Brooklyn and begin chatting up the deer-like Hiberian Leader.

"She just reminded me of someone I knew," Brooklyn said. "Didn't mean to creep on her."

He looked forlorn and a bit depressed. A look I knew rather well.

"You lost someone recently?" I asked. "I know this pain."

Brooklyn looked at me, and his _sha_ nuzzled him affectionately.

"I couldn't save her. She had a rough life to begin with, and I wanted so badly to save her…But…"

I placed my hand on his shoulder. I don't know why I felt such a kinship with this strange gargoyle, but I did know what it was like to lose someone you cared about deeply. It was a pain I knew far too well. Brooklyn needed a friend, I could sense that much. I wished that I had had one when I had been in his talons.

"I can't say that the pain goes away," I said. "But some nights will be better than others."

"Greetings," a deep voice boomed in Latin. The various clan leaders turned towards the speaker, a large dark blue colored gargoyle with a white beard, wearing armor similar to that of a Praetor in the Roman Army. Such an outfit baffled me. Why would any gargoyle wear tight restricting armor that would be difficult to remove before dawn?

Nevertheless, this must be Proclurus, the leader of the Roman Clan. Next to him stood a bearded human in long white robes. In his hands was a large leather-bound book, around his neck was a blue colored jewel encircled by two wooden ravens dangling from a leather cord. On the human's belt, was a gold and blue talisman, with the emblem of a phoenix upon it.

Brooklyn's eyes locked onto that talisman.

"Is that the Phoenix Gate?" Brooklyn asked suddenly, his full attention on that tiny talisman.

"The Portal of _Benu_?" I asked, calling the talisman by its Egyptian name. "Yes I believe so. I believe that Cleopatra the Seventh gave the Talisman to Julius Caesar. Who gave it to his Magus, who in turn gave it to his student, the current Magus."

"Magus?" Brooklyn said uneasily.

"The Sorcerer Supreme of the Roman Empire," I said. I started to say more, but Proclurus began speaking again.

"Greetings once more, my friends," he said. "My brothers and sisters from clans throughout the Empire. Thank you for responding to Caesar's summons, and thank you for taking the time to come to this city, my protectorate."

Proclurus turned towards the Magus. "As a welcome, my friend the Magus has granted you a gift that the Roman Clan has been enjoying for several weeks now."

"Indeed," The Magus spoke shakily. "I have in fact granted this gift to all of your kind. Every member of your bloodlines and all future generations until the end of time. The spell has no release clause."

"Spell?" The Persian Clan Leader demanded. "You cast a spell on us?"

"I call it, the Spell of Humility," the Magus said.

"Booyah," Brooklyn chirped. "Called it."

"You have already briefly experienced its effects, but I think that in the coming months and years, you will enjoy its benefits immensely. From now on, every article of clothing that you wear, every personal object that you keep on your person, will become stone when you do, and revert to its natural state when you become flesh."

I was speechless. Now I understood how Proclurus could wear the armor and uniform of a Roman Praetor with comfort and ease. Clothes were often only donned by gargoyles in close contact with humans, as they were just too inconvenient for clans in remote and rural areas. But now…This changed everything.

I could see that the implications of this spell was having a similar effect on the other clan leaders too, as they had all fallen silent..

"That got their attention," Proclurus joked. "If you would all follow me back to the Temple of Mars, where my clan roosts, you can join us for a feast that we have prepared in honor of your arrival. Tomorrow night, Caesar has granted us use of the Senate Hall for our Forum., and we can begin our discussion of the Olympian offer."

"Before we depart," the Magus said. "Benuthet, Second in Command of the Alexandrian Clan…I received a message that you wished to speak with my in private?"

"That is correct," I called from the back of the crowd. "I am pleased that the messenger arrived safely. But the matter which I must speak of is of some delicacy and urgency."

"Then you shall come with me to my lab," the Magus said. "The rest of you may go onto the feast."

Brooklyn suddenly grabbed my arm and held it tight.

"I need to speak to the Magus too," he said tersely. "It's also very important and urgent. Can you get me an in, Benuthet?"

"Calm yourself, my friend," I said, prying Brooklyn's talons from my arm. "You can come with me."

There was a look of utter relief on Brooklyn's face, as though what I had just said had lifted his spirits higher than the moon itself. However, speaking from experience…I have found that is the furthest place to fall from.


	2. Act 1 Scene 2 Rome 12 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Part 2**_

"Brooklyn," I said "Would you mind waiting out here for a moment?"

The Pictish _Harmakhis_ fumfured for a few moments.

"You don't understand Benuthet," Brooklyn said. "I really need to speak to—"

"Brooklyn," I interrupted, growling slightly in annoyance. "I arranged this meeting months in advance, and what I have to speak to the Magus about…it cost my clan lives. Is what you have to speak to him about of equal importance?"

"No," he admitted.

"Then please," I said. "Wait in this hall until I am done."

Brooklyn looked up and around…As if expecting something might appear and snatch him away at any moment.

"Yeah," he said. "Okay…But please, hurry."

I nodded curtly at the gargoyle, and stepped into the Magus's lab. It was a tiny room, but the scrolls and books on the wall made my scholar's heart leap. I noticed also that a small section of his wooden desk appeared to be made of stone.

"I heard about what happened in Egypt," the Magus said solemnly.

That surprised me enough that I uncloaked my wings.

"You…Did?"

"News like that travels to my ear fast," the Magus said. "I try to keep tabs of magical events throughout the empire. This is, I take it, about the Serpent's Crown?"

My mouth went dry. I quietly opened my magician's satchel and carefully pulled out the large object wrapped in sheepskin. I gingerly placed it on the Magus's desk, and carefully began unwrapping it, making certain not to actually physically touch the object within.

"Sheepskin?" the Magus inquired. "I thought you Egyptians considered that to be an unclean material."

"We do," I said. "It burned through linen and holier wrappings like acid. Only sheepskin would contain it."

Unwrapped, the Serpent's Crown sat on the desk. It looked like a blood-red serpent wrapping and twisting itself up into the shape of a basket. Not like an Egyptian Crown at all. It was made of rare red-gold—a gold and copper alloy—the evil and chaos that radiated from it filled the whole room.

I quickly covered it back up.

"I tried melting it, cutting it up, smashing it," I said. "Nothing works. It won't be destroyed."

"It's carved from one of Apophis's fangs, right?" the Magus inquired.

"Yes," I said. "And it's just as venomous as when it was still in his mouth."

"Destroying talismans that were once part of gods," the Magus commented. "I'm not sure it has ever been done. Not sure it can be. But…I do have a theoretical means of getting rid of it."

"I'd take anything at this point. Even theory," I said. "Burying it in the _deshret_ or tossing it into the ocean simply passes the problem to a future generation. I have no desire to do that."

"A volcano," the Magus said, fingering the blue gem around his neck, encircled by the twin ravens. "In theory, the best way to dispose of it, would be to throw it into a volcano, such as Etna. Even if the heat of the magma didn't destroy it, it would be rendered unreachable to any who might use it."

"Is there a downside?" I inquired.

"Yes," the Magus said. "There is the possibility that tossing an object of such immense power into a volcano, might make it erupt with more force than usual. I would recommend a remote volcano, not one near a city, like Vesuvius."

He removed the talisman hanging from his own neck, and took a deep breath, as if doing so was a great relief to him.

"It is the only reason I haven't attempted to do so myself with this," he commented.

Suddenly, the Magus collapsed forward, and the color drained from his face. He quickly slung the leather cord of the talisman back around his neck.

"Are you all right?" I demanded as the talisman glowed and his face restored to normal.

"I used the Eye of Odin to cast the Humility Spell," he explained. "Like the Serpent Crown, it is an object of incredible power. But there was a toll for casting a spell that large. A physical toll, on my body."

"Particularly because there was no release clause?" I inquired. "Why would you cast a spell with no release clause? The amount of energy required…"

"Because I didn't want the spell undone, EVER," the Magus said. "I did not want even the remotest chance that someone, somehow was clever enough to undo the spell's clause. This was the most important spell I may have ever cast."

"It was?"

"Your kind can wear clothes now," the Magus said. "It is a sad thing to say, but in some people's eyes that makes you MORE of a person. Not just a beast or wild animal. You can wear clothes on your body, and not have to worry about them being destroyed if you are caught in the wrong place at sunrise. This spell was necessary. If gargoyles ever stand a chance of being viewed as equals by men, then they needed this spell."

I considered his words. They were difficult to hear. Men like Cornelius and the Magus were rare gems. Able to see past species lines, and understand the soul behind the species.

"Perhaps I do see your point," I commented.

"In time," the Magus said. "The Eye will heal me, and I will be able to remove it again with little trouble."

He gingerly closed the sheepskin, wrapping the Serpent Crown up in it again, and handed the bundle to me. I just as gingerly took the parcel and slipped it back into my magician's satchel. Carefully examining it as he handed it back to me, making sure that none of the red-gold was exposed. The last thing that I wanted to do was accidentally brush up against the Crown while I was reaching into my satchel for something else…I never wanted to touch that crown again.

"I will seek a volcano to destroy the crown after the Forum has ended," I said.

"You had best get to the feast then," the Magus said. "It would do you well to eat before sunrise. Tomorrow may be a long night for you."

I nodded in agreement. "Before I go, I have a friend waiting in the hall. He made no appointment, but said that he needed to speak with you urgently."

"Very well," the Magus said.

"You can come in now," I called. Brooklyn entered so fast I was afraid that he was going to knock several scrolls out of their slots on the Magus's wall.

"Hi!" Brooklyn said.

The Magus's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing how quickly Brooklyn had entered the room.

"Didn't mean to intrude, or interrupt anything important," Brooklyn said, "But I need to ask you a serious favor."

"Of…course," the Magus said, gingerly fingering the Portal of Benu on his belt.

"I need to borrow the Phoenix Gate," Brooklyn said. "Please. I'm begging you."

"Young gargoyle," the Magus said bluntly. "You can't use the gate to go back in time and take back a mistake. It doesn't work like that. You can't change history."

"It isn't like that," Brooklyn said. "I'm not trying to go back in time…I need a ride to the future. About 2,000 years from now, give or take."

"What on earth would you want to do that far into the future?" the Magus asked.

"Indeed," I commented.

"Stay there," Brooklyn replied.

"My friend," The Magus said, dryly. "Then you wouldn't be borrowing the Phoenix Gate…You'd just be taking it."

"Uh…Not if you went with me," Brooklyn said. "Then you could just drop me off, and then return here…it would be like you never left."

"Why are you so desperate to travel two millennia into the future?" I asked.

"It's kind of a long story," Brooklyn said, looking at me.

"I will consider it," the Magus said. "But not until after the Forum. After all, every clan leader in the Empire? This has no precedent. We are witnessing history."

"True…" Brooklyn said.

"Then let us go to the temple of Mars," I said. "Let us eat the feast they have prepared for us, drink the wine they have squeezed for us, and let us enjoy our time here in Rome."

"That sounds way too much like 'Eat, Drink, and be Merry, for tomorrow we die,'" Brooklyn muttered.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"Just a gut feeling." he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

" _Silly, silly little_ Harmakhis _," Apophis's raspy voice echoed through my head as I once again glided through the pillars of sand. I ignored him as I often did._

" _Do you really think," he whispered. "That destroying my crown will rid your mind of me? Do you really think that you can ever purge me from you? You wore my crown, you touched my essence, and I am permanently bonded to your soul. Until your dying day, I will always be a part of you."_

 _The dream faded giving way to the sensation of suffocation. I needed air. Adrenaline surged through my blood, giving me the strength that I needed._

With a surge of energy and a triumphant roar, I burst forth from my stone shell. Scattering shards of skin everywhere and sucking in a deep breath.

A _Harmakhis_ roars upon awaking to expel the stale air that has festered in our lungs throughout the day while we sleep as stone. It is a natural, instinctive reaction that is difficult to suppress. I shook the last loose shards of skin from my body and looked down. Marveling in wonder at the sight of my linen loincloth. Still perfectly intact. I reached up and felt the braid dangling from my mane, also still intact.

The other clan leaders were having similar reactions. We had all perched atop the Temple of Mars and the surrounding buildings to greet the dawn. Many of us were anxious about wearing clothes at sunrise, even with the evidence of the previous night. Only the Roman Clan itself, whom had clearly become accustomed to sleeping in their clothes, went about their business as usual. Starting city patrols, preparing the clan meals, etc.

The Roman Clan…And Brooklyn, who unlike the rest of the non-roman gargoyles, was not examining his clothes. (The Persian leader seemed especially suspicious of her undamaged loincloth and halter-top) Brooklyn was simply petting his _sha_ affectionately.

Brooklyn was a strange one. There was something about him that I couldn't quite place my talon on. His mannerisms and speech patters were odd. And the way he acted…It was as if he…

My mind flashed back to an old rookery tale that one of the elders had told me as a hatchling. A story that couldn't possibly be true, but if it was everything about this strange _Harmakhis_ suddenly made sense.

"I could become quite accustomed to this," the deer-like leader of the Hiberian clan commented, examining his unshredded robes. "We may never need to remove our clothes again!'

"I can think of at least 5 reasons that we still might want to remove our clothes," I commented dryly.

"Shall we?" Proclurus asked, gesturing towards the Senate Building. One by one, each of us took to the sky and began to follow the Roman leader throughout the city. There were at least 56 clans represented by these leaders, and seeing them all flying side by side across the sky to a single destination was a glorious sight to behold.

We alighted in front of the Senate Hall one by one, each clustering into groups of three or four. Brooklyn and his _sha_ landed next to me. I noticed several statues of Roman senators milling about the Senate building, inside and out. The statues were incredibly detailed and lifelike. I stepped closer to examine one.

"Don't," Proclurus called out to me. "Don't touch the statues."

"Why not?" I wondered.

"It is the only Law in Rome directed unto the gargoyles," Proclurus explained

"We do not touch the senators while they are stone," he said. "And they do not touch us while we are stone."

"Wait," the Second in Command of the Gaul clan said. "These are the actual Senators? In…Stone sleep?"

"I wouldn't call it sleep," Proclurus said. "As I understand it, they don't dream like we do. In fact, they have no concept of any time passing while they are stone. They are stone at night, and flesh in the day/"

"Wait, what?" Brooklyn demanded.

"The Magus created the spell," Proclurus said. "As something of a defense for our clan, in the form of a practical joke. By allowing the senators to walk in our shoes, they have no desire to harm our kind in our sleep, as had been known to happen from time to time."

"That kind of spell…" Brooklyn said. "It could be used for a lot more than a practical joke."

"Which is why the Magus has it kept only in his personal spell book," Proclurus said. "The _Grimorum Arcanorum_. But let us discuss more pressing matters than the political situation between the gargoyles of Rome, and her senators. Let us speak of the New Olympians."

Slowly we began to mill our way into the senate building, one by one, each of us taking our seats in the hall. No sooner did we take our seats, then human slaves materialized out of nowhere, carrying large dishes of food. Dormouse, Camel, Ostrich. Parrot. The most expensive of Roman delicacies were placed before us.

Many of the clan leaders looked at the foodstuffs in wonderment. Not Brooklyn. He began gobbling down the food in front of him like a ravenous _sha_. And speaking of Brooklyn's _sha_ , he wasn't ignored either. A servant placed a large platter on the ground in front of the beast as well. He dove into it as ravenously as his master did. Brooklyn's _sha_ wasn't the only _sha_ that had accompanied their clan leaders or seconds to the hall, but there were only a handful.

It gave me a pang of nostalgia for the _sha_ that I used to have as a pet. I raised it from a hatchling myself. It disappeared the night that I…It disappeared. I no longer have a _sha_ of my own.

"A gift," a deep, powerful voice said. Proclurus stood at attention, and clasped a talon over his right breast. The gargoyle clan leaders fell silent.

Emperor Augustus himself had joined us in the hall.

"A gift," he repeated. "To the noble clans and protectors of the Empire. May your goblets never run out of wine, and your plates never run out of meat this night. The future of your kind will be decided this night. Know that you have the gratitude of your Emperor, no matter what you decide."

And with that, Augustus sat down upon the throne in the center of the hall.

"Proclurus has the floor," Augustus declared.

"What are these?" Brooklyn asked prodding a gelatinous grey pudding.

"Lambs brains, I believe," I responded. "A rare Roman delicacy."

Brooklyn looked horrified or disgusted, or some mix of both, and placed his lamb brains on the floor, whereupon his _sha_ happily dove into the foodstuffs and gobbled it down.

"You and your beast act as though you haven't eaten in weeks," I commented.

"Our last meal was pretty meager," Brooklyn admitted. "But also, Fu-dog and I do a lot of traveling. Food can be hard to come by sometimes. So a feast like this…we might eat now and ask questions later."

"And yet you ignored the lamb brain?" I asked, taking piece of dormouse, dipping it in honey and taking a bite.

"Some things are worth questioning I guess," Brooklyn shrugged.

"The question is posed before us," Proclurus began. "And it is a simple one, one that will affect our clans for generations. Do we accept the Olympian offer?"

"Yes!" the Damascus Clan leader yelled out.

"Or do we remain within our protectorates?" Proclurus continued, ignoring the Damascus Leader.

"Is it not obvious?" the Damascus leader demanded. "Our clans, our eggs, our hatchlings, our very lives are at stake. When New Olympus closes its borders, then at last there will be no humans! No further threats to our kind. We will finally be safe."

"There will be humans," the Athenian Clan Leader commented.

"Yes," the Damascus Clan Leader conceded. "There will be a handful of human families. Because a handful of humans currently live on New Olympus. But they are a minority, and likely will leave the island or marry Olympians and then they will cease to exist."

"There will be humans because Olympians are humans,' The Athenian Clan leader clarified. There was some quiet murmuring through the throng of assembled clan leaders.

"They are the children born of unions between humans and the Third Race," he said. "Their magical ancestors account for their unique appearance and abilities, but they are still human by bloodline. Their appearance means little in terms of blood. You say you want to get away from humans, but there will still be humans. Just humans of a different appearance and ability."

"Semantics," the Damascus Leader declared. "Olympians are the victims of humans, just as we gargoyles are. We are kin in name, if not blood."

"As long as you understand who your neighbors are. As for Athens, while we understand the logic, I am not certain we can leave the Parthenon unguarded. A gargoyle cannot stop protecting any more than they might stop-,"

"Breathing the air," every gargoyle in the forum said in unison. A mantra that we all knew by heart. There was an awkward silence.

"There is a compromise," I said, standing up and taking the floor. Brooklyn paused in his eating and looked at me.

"We need not all go, or all abandon our protectorates," I said. "We need simply send a handful of gargoyles to New Olympus—Just as we would during any clan split—and our eggs."

"Our eggs?!" the Persian leader demanded.

"Our eggs," I confirmed. "All of the eggs, from the egg clutch that was laid four years ago. Our children would be safe, and our protectorates not abandoned."

"Hear, hear to the Alexandrian Clan Second," the Damascus Clan Leader said. "He speaks with wisdom. My clan has already chosen to leave Damascus. We will raise the eggs as our own. Alongside all who join us on New Olympus."

"You've already decided then?" the Athenian Leader asked in surprise. "And here I thought that we were here to actually MAKE that decision."

"Honestly," the Hiberian Leader piped up. "I thought that we were here to hammer out the logistics. We all knew the purpose of the forum before we left, and we were all chosen to voice the desires of our clans. Is not the decision already made?"

There was an awkward silence in the forum.

"It is," I said. "Isn't it? We all know what our clans would have us do, don't we? This debate is purely academic."

"So it would seem," the Athenian Clan leader said. "Then I suppose we should cast our votes, and inform the honored Emperor of our clans choices"

He bowed respectfully at Augustus.

"And begin the…Logistics as the honored Hiberian Leader said," he continued. "As for the Athenians, my clan wishes to stay. We will not abandon our protectorate. But we see the merit of the Alexandrian Clan Second's proposal. We shall send our eggs to New Olympus, as well as a handful of elders to teach and share Athenian Clan tradition with the hatchlings. I myself will be among them."

"The Damascus Clan…" the Damascus Leader declared.

"We all know what the Damascus Clan wants,' The Cretan Leader interrupted. "You made painfully obvious already. Crete will also be leaving for Olympus. Our protectorate is that of ideas. We need not remain on Crete to protect them."

"On behalf of the Clans of Egypt," I said. "We are choosing to split. Half of each Egyptian Clan will remain where they are, and half of each clan will go to New Olympus. We will also send all of our eggs."

"Great," the Damascus leader muttered. "All future generations will be predominantly Egyptian."

"We are gargoyles," I said. "Our individual clans do not matter to the whole. New Olympus is a new clan. And it will learn from all of her parent clans. The protection of steel and weapons from her Damascus Mothers and Fathers, the Protection of Knowledge from her Cretan Mothers and Fathers. They will learn the protection and preservation of order and history from our Egyptian Clan Parents. This is how a new, stronger clan is forged."

"Gaul pledges her eggs to the Olympian Clan," the bat like Second of the Gaelic clan said. "But we will send no adults. We trust our children to these clans."

One by one, each clan voted. Most clans opted to split, with a handful choosing to stay in their territories. All offered their eggs. At the end, only Brooklyn hadn't spoken.

He blinked as he realized that all eyes were on him.

"Um…" he said. "I'm just…Observing. My clan currently lives north of Hadrian's Wall."

"What is Hadrian's wall?" I asked frowning.

"Hasn't been built yet, got it," Brooklyn corrected himself. "We live too far north to contribute. So just observing. Gargoyle history an all that."

"You took the time and the effort to come to this forum,' Emperor Augustus said. "I would be remiss as Emperor if I did not fulfill my obligation. If your clan chooses to join the Olympians, then I will see to it that they can join the Olympians."

"Well…As flattering as-," Brooklyn started to say. But he was interrupted by a loud booming sound outside the building.

Instantly all of the clan was on guard. Proclurus immediately glided down alongside the Emperor and took a defensive position next to him.

Brooklyn and I were closest to the entrance. We ran to the archway and looked outside.

Crazed looking humans wearing leather and using crudely made swords and axes were charging through the city. There were at least a dozen within my line of sight. I could smell more nearby. Several buildings were on fire in the distance.

"Goths," the Emperor said. "In the city? How?"

"It matters not, my liege," Proclurus said quietly. "My duty is now to get you back to the safety of your palace. Apologies."

"Apologies?" Augustus asked. "For what?"

Proclurus scooped the Emperor up and began scaling the wall of the Senate building. Augustus started to object but fell silent when the Roman Clan leader took to the sky, gliding in the direction of the fortified Imperial Palace.

The clan leaders all stared blankly at the carnage below us.

"Hey guys?" Brooklyn suddenly demanded. "Are we gargoyles or not? We came here because the Emperor wanted to help us out? Think the least we can do is what we do best, and protect his city."

"He's right!" the Damascus Clan leader, of all gargoyles declared. There was a general murmur of agreement from the clan leaders, and they all began to scale the walls or charge at the nearest Goths. I moved to aid them, but Brooklyn grabbed my arm.

"Benuthet…Those fires? Do they look like they're all in the same general location to you?"

I followed Brooklyn's gaze.

"The Magus," I said.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that."

Brooklyn and I hurriedly scaled the wall of the Senate house. Unfurling our wings we launched ourselves towards the Magus's residence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We found the Magus's tower easily. There was a throng of Goths surrounding the base of his tower. The Magus stood upon his balcony, holding his leather-bound spell book in his hand.

"Come Lightning!" he declared in Latin, and a burst of lightning issued forth from his hand, firing down upon the Goths at the base of his tower, attempting to light the building on fire. They scattered in the wake of the Magus's spell, but then quickly resumed their attack.

I made note of the Magus's spell. It was a simple, but potent combat spell. Clearly designed by the Magus himself. I liked it, and was mentally adding it to my arsenal.

But at the moment, using sorcery was dangerous. Fortunately as _Harmakhis_ we have other talents. We both issued forth triumphant roars, drawing our swords and diving down upon the Goths.

We took down at least three as we landed. I spun around and struck another with my _khopesh_ , the hook like blade snagging the Goth's smaller, awkward sword and tossing it aside.

I growled and flashed my eyes, flaring my wings to their full length. An instinctive reaction, designed to intimidate.

It was effective. Two of the Goths I was fighting ran away as though I intended to eat them. But three more lunged at me.

"Hit it, Fu-dog!" Brooklyn yelled.

A wall of olive-green flesh slammed into the Goths and knocked them down like _senet_ pieces scattered on a board. Brooklyn's _sha_ had apparently followed us on foot, and was a one-beast vision of destruction.

"Come Lightning!" The Magus yelled. A burst of white lightning scattered the remaining Goths, as the Magus exited his tower and joined us.

"That won't deter them for long," he said quietly. "They have come to reclaim the Eye of Odin."

"The Eye of Odin!" Brooklyn yelped, taken slightly aback.

"Yes," the Magus said. "Julius Caesar stole it from a Visigoth temple during one of his campaigns. It was brought to Rome as a curiosity. Until I found it in the Imperial Treasure room, recognized it for what it was, and requested it. I used the immense power of the Eye to Cast the Spell of Humility. Unfortunately, it seems that doing so attracted some unwanted attention."

"You think?" Brooklyn asked dryly.

"If all they want is the Eye of Odin…Which was stolen from them in the first place," Brooklyn suggested. "Then can't we just give it to them?"

"You will die!" I said. "You need the Eye to recover from casting the Humility Spell."

"I am weakened without the Eye, yes," the Magus said. "But I won't die. I've healed enough to be parted with it. But even if I weren't, I'd gladly give them the Eye if I thought for a moment that it would help. I am Roman after all. Laying down our life for the Empire is a sworn duty."

"But it won't help?" I asked.

"Nay," he said. "The Goths are out for blood. And…they are led by Wotan."

"Isn't that another name for Odin?" Brooklyn asked.

"Very perceptive," the Magus said. "Wotan the Goth is a power-hungry madman who believes himself to be Odin's earthly avatar. He gouged out his own eye, intending to replace it with the Eye of Odin. He is also known to be a powerful and competent sorcerer. He won't settle for the Eye. He will also attempt to claim the Phoenix Gate and the Grimorum Arcanorum."

"Do you have a plan?" I asked.

"Yes," the Magus said. "As long as all three are in one place, their magics can be seen by Wotan's Goth sorcery with ease. I must separate the three. Take them to opposite ends of the Empire, so that Wotan can never claim them. He wants the Eye the most. He will chase it to the ends of the earth. It must leave Rome. All three items must."

"We can take the Phoenix Gate!" Brooklyn said quickly.

The Magus looked disappointed.

"I can't give you the Phoenix Gate, Brooklyn." He said quietly.

"Sure you can," Brooklyn said. "You just put the talisman in my talons and-Wait. I never told you my name. Benuthet…Did you tell him my name?"

"Now that you mention it," I said. "I don't believe I did."

"We've met before," Brooklyn said. "Haven't we?"

"I'm sorry, Brooklyn, yes," the Magus said. "In your future and my past, we have met. Therefore I can't give you the Phoenix Gate. You know as well as I do that history is immutable."

Brooklyn let loose a guttural growl and punched a nearby wall, leaving a dent.

"Besides," he said. "I gave the gate to Proclurus already. I don't physically have it anymore."

"Fine," he said quietly. "We'll take the Eye of Odin."

The Magus quickly removed the raven-circled amulet and handed it to me. I gingerly took it, and placed it in my satchel.

"Wait…," Brooklyn said, frowning. "That's not the Eye of Odin?"

"I assure you," the Magus said. "It is."

"Weird…" Brooklyn said frowning.

"Come on.," I said, as I began digging my talons into the nearby wall and climbing it. Brooklyn followed suit, as did his _sha_.

"Burn down the walls of time and space," I heard the Magus mutter below me. I glanced down just in time to see the Magus vanish in a ball of flame.

"Figures," Brooklyn snapped angrily. "He lied to me so I wouldn't pressure him for the gate. Stupid immutable history."

"Brooklyn," I started to say.

"Save it," Brooklyn said. "Let's just get the Eye of Odin out of here."

He scooped up his _sha_ and launched into the air. I quietly followed suit. We barely made it a _stadia_ when suddenly a green fireball launched into the air and struck me in the face.

"Arrrgh!" I snarled trying to put the flames out. Another green fireball launched and I tumbled to the ground, landing in a Roman fountain with a splash. Wet and annoyed, I clambered out of the fountain, as Brooklyn alighted next to me.

"You okay, dude?" he asked.

"I'm fine," I snarled. "But my dignity may never recover."

"Silly stupid little gargoyles," a new voice declared. "Give me the Eye of Odin, and I might let you live."

A tall blond human in his thirties stepped out of the shadows. He wore a dark red leather cloak, and held a tall staff made of ash. His right eye was covered by a leather patch.

"Wotan the Goth, I presume," I said, reaching into my satchel.

"You have heard of me?" he said, sounding pleased. "Good. Give me what is the rightful property of my People."

He paused for a moment.

"I sense something else in your satchel. Something very powerful. You will give that to me as well."

"No," I said, gripping my ivory wand, and pulling it out. "I will not. COME LIGHTNING!"

The hieroglyphics carved into my wand glowed blue and a burst of lightning issued forth from the wand, striking Wotan squarely in the chest and blowing him backwards.

"Whoa!" Brooklyn said frowning, "You have a magic boomerang?"

"I don't know what a 'boomerang' is," I said. "But I do have an ivory wand. I am a trained and accomplished sorcerer."

"I did not know that." Brooklyn said.

"I copied the Magus's spell that he was using to defend his tower," I said. "It was simple enough, and my wand acted as an ideal conduit."

"ENOUGH!" Wotan yelled, and slammed his staff into the ground. A burst of sickly green energy erupted forth from his staff, and he issued a spell in his own guttural language. I don't know what he said, but a second later my ivory wand exploded, sending shards of the ivory all over the street.

"That was my best wand!" I snarled.

"I am the only mage of note," Wotan sneered. "I spent years creating spells designed to disrupt the magic of others. It makes me the most powerful sorcerer in any give room. You can playact at magic all you like, gargoyle. But only I have a spell that destroys conduits."

"You destroyed my favorite wand," I said reaching into my satchel. "But I still posses a conduit."

"Benny," Brooklyn said., "What are you doing?"

"Taking a risk," I said, and pulled out the Eye of Odin.

"Give it to me!" Wotan hissed, and lunged at me.

"COME LIGHTNING!" I yelled. The air crackled with magical energy, and a burst of lightning as thick as a cedar tree issued forth, blasting Wotan backwards again, and blasting me back into the fountain.

I dropped the Eye of Odin onto the cobblestones in front of the fountain. It glowed white-hot.

"Geeze, Benuthet!" Brooklyn yelled, helping me out of the fountain. "What the hell?"

"Mixing magics is dangerous," I said. "I took a chance."

The glowing Eye of Odin suddenly twisted shape. Warping and morphing on the ground. The glow faded and the Eye had completely changed shape. The twin wooden ravens were gone. It was now covered in an oddly twisted knot of gold. It didn't even look Norse anymore. It looked vaguely Egyptian.

Possibly because an Egypitan Magician had just used it as a conduit for a Roman spell. The odd confluence of magical forces that had changed the shape of the talisman intrigued me. The scholar in me wanted to test this phenomenon more.

"Huh?" Brooklyn said frowning. "So…Now it looks like…That. Okaaaay…."

Green fireballs struck us both, blasting us back into the fountain. Brooklyn's _sha_ snarled and lunged at Wotan, who simply batted him aside with his staff. The Visigoth sorcerer walked forward and picked up the Eye.

"You…Blasphemers!" He yelled. "What have you done to the Eye?"

"It was not meant to be a conduit for mortal Magic," I said staggering to my feet. "Channeling it like that triggered a primal reaction from the Eye. It is essentially a piece of the Third Race after all."

"What?" Brooklyn asked as I helped him to his feet.

"It shapeshifted," I replied. "It is the eye of a shapeshifter, and by channeling my magic through it, I made it shapeshift."

"Well," Wotan pondered. "It is still the Eye of Odin, even in this new form."

Wotan lifted up his eyepatch and slid the jewel into the empty socket.

"No!" Brooklyn yelled. But it was too late.

Magical energy erupted from the Eye, and it seemed to wedge itself tightly into the socket. Wotan's body increased in size, and suddenly erupted in green flames.

"YES!" he yelled. "The power! The absolute power. Power that will increase tenfold. Give me the other talisman!"

"Brooklyn," I said, clutching my satchel close to my body. "If he gets what is in my satchel…It will doom the World."

"I'm not seeing many options here," Brooklyn said.

Suddenly, the sky erupted forth into orange flames, which suddenly shaped themselves into that of a large bird of prey. It eyed Brooklyn hungrily. Wotan stopped short and stared at the enormous bird.

"Seriously?" Brooklyn demanded. "SERIOUSLY?! NOW?! YOU SHOW UP NOW?!"

"Brooklyn?" I asked.

"No, no!" Brooklyn snapped. "This has been a long freaking time coming, you stupid flaming chicken. First you drag me all over history. Fine, I can live with that. THEN, you make it impossible to find out what happened. THEN YOU DRAG ME TO CARPATHIA, TEASE ME, TAUNT ME with a girl who, I don't know…Might actually like me for once, but that's not enough for you. You had to let FREAKING DRACULA MURDER HER!"

"And now this," Brooklyn snapped angrily. "This psychopath here gets to have the Eye of Odin, because…That's what history says. Well screw that! History bites!"

Wotan, Brooklyn's _sha_ , the Phoenix, and I all stared at Brooklyn in stunned silence.

"I'm not playing his game anymore," Brooklyn said, folding his arms. "He can leave without me. I'm not leaving the Eye of Odin with this freak."

The Phoenix stared coldly at Brooklyn. It started to flap its wings.

"Brooklyn, look out!" I yelled, and lunged at the Pictish _Harmakhis_. I slammed into him and we surged forward. The giant inferno-raptor lunged at the two of us and snapped us up like we were bits of mouse.

We tumbled through the flames, blinded by their brightness then they evaporated and we tumbled out onto soft mossy ground. Brooklyn's _sha_ tumbled out of the flames after us and landed on top of me, winding me for a moment. He scrambled off of me and shambled over to Brooklyn.

"Damn it," he snapped. "Damn that stupid Time-Fowl."

I staggered to my feet, clutching my satchel and looking around. We were in the midst of some kind of jungle. Trees and creatures that I could not identify surrounded us. Monkeys scampered through the trees, and a large red and blue parrot that I had never seen before flittered away from me.

"Where in the world are we?" I wondered.

"The question isn't 'where'," Brooklyn said. "It's 'when?'"

"I believe that both are relevant questions, Timedancer," I said.

Brooklyn blinked. "If I had known when I made up that name that it was going to stick…How long have you known?"

"Well the Phoenix was a dead givaway," I commented dryly. "But you weren't exactly subtle about hiding the fact that you knew about future events. I still don't know what a 'Hadrian's Wall' is."

"But you've heard of me before?" Brooklyn asked.

"I admit," I responded. "It was a very old Rookery Tale that I was told as a hatchling. A personal favorite though. I though you were only that. 'The Gargoyle of the Sword'. A gargoyle from the distant future, cast to the winds of time by the Phoenix. Hoping to find his way home. Fighting the villains of history and mythology while he journeys. It seemed a little fantastical to me. So as I grew older, I dismissed the tales. Until you showed up on my boat."

"Yeah," Brooklyn said bitterly. "Well…History ain't pretty, and this ain't all it's cracked up to be."

"Perhaps," I said. "But that's why you must do it. You must continue with your journey. Your stories gave me hope as a hatchling. And hope is too important to give up lightly."

"That's why you pushed me into the Phoenix, isn't it?" Brooklyn said.

"It is," I admitted. "I couldn't let you abandon your quest. I don't know if you will get home, but at least this way…You will make an impact on a young Gargoyle who will one day grow up to lead his clan to New Olympus."

Brooklyn looked at me sideways.

"You do understand that this deal could possibly be a one-way trip, right?" Brooklyn said. "I can't control the Phoenix. It doesn't send me when I want to go. It sends me when I need to be."

"And I think it sent you to Rome," I said. "To me…because you needed a friend."

That seemed to give Brooklyn pause.

"Alright," he said. "Though I'd have preferred a female friend…Just saying."

"Well," I said frowning. "I can't help you there."

"So…," he said, bending down and petting Fu-dog. "Where…AND when are we?"

"I have no idea," I said, looking around. "I've never seen any plants or animals like these. So I think that we can rule out…Anywhere within the Roman Empire."

I suddenly stopped and glanced at the eastern horizon.

"Dawn? Already? But the sun only set a few hours ago…"

"Yeah, that's time-travel for you buddy," Brooklyn said. "Sometimes your nights are shorter."

"At least the Humility Spell will keep our clothes in-," I started to say.

"Ssh-ssh," Brooklyn said waving his talon. "I think I hear voices…Someone is coming."

I turned in his direction and crouched down, trying to peer through the underbrush of this strange jungle at the sounds of those approaching.

"Definitely human," I said.

"Not good," Brooklyn said, gripping his sword-hilt as the sun peaked over the horizon and froze us in stone sleep.

 _To be continued…_


	3. Act 2 Scene 1 Guatemala 1560 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Part 3**_

" _Enter," a voice called before she even finished knocking._

 _Isabella Canmore stormed into Diego de Landa's quarters. A scowl plastered on here otherwise beautiful face._

 _The burly Conquistadores standing by the entrance bristled at her arrival. Isabella dressed like a man, and carried a rapier by her side. It unnerved them, and Isabella knew it. This wasn't why she dressed like this, however. Traditional women's clothing was not suitable for any Canmore involved in the 'family business'._

 _Diego de Landa did not look up when Isabella stormed in. The Franciscan continued to look over the Mayan artifacts on his table, and would then write about them in his journal._

" _Can I help you, Miss Canmore?" de Landa asked without looking up._

" _Aye," she said. "You hired me to hunt demons. Not burn down human villages."_

" _Pagan, villages," de Landa calmly corrected. "And don't hyperbolize. I hired you to hunt gargoyles. Not demons. I doubt very seriously that you are equipped to hunt true demons."_

" _Same difference," she spat back at him. "And the last time I read the Good Book, it spoke of loving thy neighbor as thyself, it dinnae say anything about burning down their villages!"_

 _Diego showed no visible reaction, he just kept examining the obsidian jaguar statue on his desk, and taking notes, writing them down in his journal._

 _"Gargoyles are not demons," he repeated. "If you are so keen on the Words of Scripture, then you should already know that demons posses no physical form. They must possess mortal bodies to interact in our world. Gargoyles are flesh and blood creatures. Their wings indicate that they were made on the fifth day of creation. They are beasts and animals, made by our Creator just as the other birds of the air and beasts of the field were."_

 _"They become stone during the day," Isabella countered. "That's not natural. And not my point."_

 _"Who are you to say what is and isn't natural," de Landa countered. "The tadpole transforms into the frog, the caterpillar into the butterfly. Why not gargoyle flesh to stone? Our Lord has no limits."_

 _"If you dinnae believe they are demons," Isabella asked, frowning, "Then why exactly did you hire me?"_

 _"I don't believe rats are demons, either" de Landa countered. "That doesn't mean that I want them in my larder. You are pest control. Although frankly, I'm beginning to doubt your ability to do even that."_

 _Isabella was now incensed. "My family has been hunting gargoyles for over 500 years!"_

 _"And yet in that time, you still don't understand their nature," de Landa said. "If you did, maybe you'd actually have succeeded by now."_

 _"Excuse me?!" she demanded._

 _"Do you know why I am cataloguing these items, and learning about the Maya?" de Landa said, putting his pen back in the inkwell and standing up._

 _"I burned their village so that they would not remain in ignorance," he said. "I record their culture, so that I do not. If I understand them, their minds, how they think…then I have already won every conflict. You would do well to learn how a gargoyle thinks."_

 _"You yourself said that they were just animals," she said._

 _"As are dogs and cats," de Landa replied. "They still think differently from each other, and other animals."_

 _The door suddenly burst open. Two Conquistadors burst into the room; one a large, burly muscled man, the other a young man of less than 25. He blushed when saw Isabella._

 _"The woman at least had the courtesy to knock," de Landa said exasperatedly. "And she was unhappy with me."_

 _"Apologies, sir," the younger soldier, a man by the name of Alejandro said. "But we found it!"_

 _"You did?" de Landa said, suddenly brightening._

 _"Found what?" Isabella demanded._

 _"The reason that I came to this remote area of the New World." de Landa replied, gingerly placing his hand on a locked chest sitting on his desk. "A small vein of one of the rarest minerals on the planet. I've been chasing rumors of it for months now. I've come to believe that the largest deposit is right here in this very jungle."_

 _"Yes," Alejandro said. "It looks just as you described. The crystals are in a small cave about a mile or two inland. The cave was difficult to find. If not for the statues marking the entrance we wou-,"_

 _"Statues?!" de Landa and Isabella interrupted at the same time, their minds almost working in sync._

 _"Yes," Alejandro said, sounding confused. "Winged Creatures. Very lifelike."_

 _"You dinnae tell them that there might be gargoyles?!" Isabella snapped, turning and looking at de Landa._

 _"They are common folk," de Landa snapped back. "There haven't been any gargoyles in Spain since before the Crusades. They would not have understood…Oh good Lord…The sun is almost down now."_

 _"Tell me you dinnae set up camp by the statues," Isabella demanded…_

My mind suddenly faded from this strange scene. It had been quite some time since I had had a _ba_ dream. Not since before donning the Serpent's Crown. Apophis's magic had left a taint in my mind that had imprisoned my _ba_. But it seemed that the Phoenix had liberated me.

As my dream faded, and adrenalin surged through my bloodstream, I awakened from stone sleep with my customary roar. For once, my mind wasn't on the marvel of the Humility Spell, but what just occurred.

It was such a relief to my conscious mind, suddenly realizing that Apophis was no longer whispering in my head, that I almost didn't realize what happened next.

"My dreams," I marveled. "My dreams were untainted by—"

"Benuthet!" Brooklyn said.

We were surrounded. The men wore the same strange armor from my _ba_ dream. They held large sticks of metal and wood; the most awkward looking spear that I had ever seen in my life. And many of them were in various states of undress. There were tents set up in several positions around us.

"Oh," I said. "We were the statues."

I swore in Greek, and then all Hades burst loose.

The strange soldiers began yelling in a language that I had never heard before in my life, but understood it immediately.

" _Diablos!_ " One yelled.

"Uh…Yes" Brooklyn snapped. "You have trespassed upon my territory and awakened me. I am an ancient Mesopotamian demon who will ravage the face of the world! I am evil incarnate. I…Am Gozer the Gozarian."

"You are what now?" I asked.

"These are my minions!" Brooklyn said. He pointed at me. "Vinz Clortho!"

"And Zuul!" He pointed at his beast.

"You should run in terror!" Brooklyn said. "Before I choose the form of the destructor that will reign his vengeance upon you!"

"Yes," I said, rather confused by his methodology, but understanding at least that Brooklyn was trying to intimidate and scare the humans away, thus preventing an actual conflict.

"I am Vinz Clortho…The…Clortharian?"

"Quiet Vinz," Brooklyn said. "You're ruining my perfect Ghostbusters reference."

"Your…What?" I asked.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers remembered that he was holding one of those awkward metal and wooden spears. He picked it up and aimed it at me.

"Benuthet!" Brooklyn pounced on me, and shoved me to the ground as a strange flash and explosion erupted from the tip of the weapon. The tree behind me splintered, and there was a large hole in the side.

"Well, it was worth a shot," Brooklyn muttered.

I blinked and looked at Brooklyn.

"Gratitude," I said.

"Yeah…well…try not to get hit by one of those. A member of my clan did once, and she almost didn't make it."

"Noted," I said, and scrambled forward on all fours, charging at the human who had shot at me. He screamed in terror and ran from me as if a true lion was chasing him. Brooklyn's beast was now on a rampage through the camp, snarling and tearing at the soldiers.

"Okay," Brooklyn said, striking another with the flat of his blade, rendering him unconscious. "They clearly weren't expecting us. I think that if we…"

Brooklyn stopped speaking, and reacted on pure instinct. He surged forward with his blade and shoved me out of the way again, his sword narrowly blocking a blow by a thinner, sharper blade.

The human woman wielding the blade stared at us coldly. Her green eyes were visible through her black mask, which had three red slash marks across it. The marks reminded me of a gargoyle's claw marks. Her orange colored hair was drawn back into a ponytail, and she moved with a speed I seldom saw in any human warrior. No sooner had Brooklyn parried the blow that would have killed me, and then she had reacted and was striking again.

"Can I please…please…PLEASE go two freaking Dances without running into another God Damned Hunter?! Brooklyn lamented.

"Hunter?" I asked.

"Yuir the damned one, Demon!" she spat.

"You're one to talk, Hunter!" Brooklyn said. "The last Hunter that I ran into turned himself into a vampire to try and off me. You don't get any more damned than that! None of you guys ever stop and think that maybe you're on the wrong side of history?"

"Yuir Queen killed my mother!"

"Of course she did," Brooklyn actually rolled his eyes as he parried another strike from the Hunter's sword and looked at me.

"Hunters. An entire family dedicated to wiping us gargoyles off the face of the earth. I've met more than a few."

"How long…" I started to ask.

"The vendetta goes on for at least a thousand years, passed from parent to child. And every time that the vendetta looks like its about to fade away, or die out, Demona freaking kills one of them and sets the whole thing off again, because that's what she does. SCREWS OVER OUR KIND BECAUSE SHE CAN'T GET OVER HERSELF."

Up until now, only Brooklyn's skill with his blade kept him alive. Now his angry ranting had stopped his opponent in her tracks.

"I'm sorry," Brooklyn said scowling. His eyes glowing white. "I have issues with Demona. Like her inability to take responsibility for her screw ups. Or her apparently lack of regard for human and gargoyle lives. Or the fact that every time I do something in history to repair or strengthen human-gargoyle relations, she goes and undoes all my work and screws me over and I'm freaking tired of it!"

"Sorry, sorry," Brooklyn amended. "You touched a nerve there. By all means, continue trying to exterminate me and my kind. S'not like it's gonna matter."

The Hunter looked unsure of herself for a second, but then charged at Brooklyn with the same lightning speed as before. I drew my _khopesh_ and prepared to enter the conflict alongside my friend.

I was too late, however. The Hunter saw an opening in Brooklyn's defense and slashed open a large gash on Brooklyn's left arm. He winced loudly and stumbled back, clutching his bloody arm with his wing, but maintaining a grip on his sword.

I moved to intervene, but someone beat me to it. A flash of bright red dove into the fray and moved with speed almost equal to the Hunter's own. It took me a moment to register the actions of the new gargoyle, but once I locked eyes on her, I was able to track her movements.

She was bright red. Not like Brooklyn's dusky color, this red stood out among the dark green jungle that surrounded us. Her hair was black as night and quite long, but pleated into a twisted braid down her back.

Her wings were a similar style to Brooklyn's, though she had spurs at the wing joints. Her most striking feature, however, was her forehead ridges. Not mere ridges…No more like a ridged bony plate from the forehead of some long forgotten beast from gargoyle legend.

She wore very simple clothes, but ornate. A loincloth of a material I didn't recognize, and a small poncho-like top, that only covered her breasts, exposing her bare midriff. Around her neck was a tiny sapphire pendant on a small leather chord.

This exposed midriff made for the most obvious target, and the Hunter was eagerly attempting to attack said target. With no success, for her red-skinned opponent was anticipating these attacks, and was parrying with her own blade; a strange looking blade of pure obsidian, with a wooden handle.

"Whoa!" Brooklyn and I said in unison, both of us captivated by this strange female.

"Vinz Clortho and Gozer," she snapped at us. "I could use some assistance."

It took me a moment to realize that she meant us. Brooklyn and I charged in to help her.

The Hunter was recalculating her odds. She could take on one or two of us…But three gargoyles armed with swords was too much for her. She was now on the defensive, beating a hasty retreat towards the tents, where, unfortunately, the soldiers were now recovering their wits, and were arming themselves with more of the explosive spears.

"I think we need to retreat into the jungle," I said.

"If I let up," the red-skinned female said, "then I lose."

I moved toward the Hunter. If I could hook her blade with my _khopesh_ then I could disarm her, and then maybe we could fall back. The Hunter was far too seasoned for this, however. She knew what I had in mind for my sword, and she was having none of it.

My attempt to intervene was cut short by that of another intervention. A large black cat, similar to a leopard, but smaller and stockier attacked the Hunter from the other side.

"Ugh…," the female hissed. "Six-Jaguar. Fantastic. Now he'll want…"

She stopped and looked at us.

"Well what do you want? A foot-messenger? Into the Green!"

Brooklyn whistled sharply. "Fu-Dog! Heel!"

Faster than the Hunter and the red-skinned female combined, Brooklyn's beast was at his side. The four of us stumbled into the forest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You have legs," Our rescuer commented to us.

"So do you?" I asked.

"I am not the norm in my clan. Gargoyles with legs are rare," She said.

"Serpentine gargoyles are rare in my clan," I said. "The last one I knew…Her name was Isfet and she…Never mind."

"I am _Zafira_ ," our red-skinned rescuer said. Now that I had a chance to look at her more closely, I could she was young. She couldn't have been more than 40 years…A child, really.

"Name's Brooklyn," Brooklyn said. "Gozer the Gozarian is from _Ghostbusters._ I was just trying to scare them. Zafira…That name seems familiar."

"My name is not 'Zafira,'" she said, sounding confused. "It is _Zafira."_

"How's that different?" Brooklyn wondered.

"It is the translation magic of the Phoenix," I said. "I've been thinking in Alexandrian Greek and Egyptian. But the words I speak are not of those tongues. They are a language I have never heard before. Likewise, when I hear the language, I inherently know that it is not those…But my mind hears it in Greek and Egyptian. My native tongues. But for some reason, your name is translating to us as 'Zafira', but not translating back to you when we repeat it. A curious phenomenon."

"What is your true name, sorcerer?" she inquired having discerned from my sentence that I understood the workings of magic. "I assume it is not 'Vinz Clortho'."

"It is Benuthet," replied.

"Do you possess strong magics?"

"My wand was shattered back in Rome. I have no conduit through which I can cast spells. The only things in my satchel are dried tana leaves, a few charms and shabtis, various oils, mummy dust, and a copy of the Papyrus of Thoth. Nothing useful."

"So…" she said, drooping slightly. "You can do nothing about these Spanish."

"Not with what I have on hand," I said.

"Pity," she said. She glanced over at Brooklyn's wound.

"That will become infected before sunrise," she said. "Wait here. I know some plants that can provide healing. She vanished into the jungle before we could protest.

I turned towards Brooklyn. "What do you know of this time and place?"

"Not much," Brooklyn admitted. "Time travel gives you a pretty broad view of history, but specifics can be pretty vague. As far as I know, though; we are about 1,500 years into the future from where we left, give or take a century or two…"

I staggered at that number. 1,500 years. All my clan dead and dust, and I a stranger in a strange land.

"Yeah," Brooklyn said placing a talon upon my shoulder. "But Spanish Conquistadores, in this time period, in this part of the World? Not good for the local population. Human OR gargoyle."

"I saw you three sleeping within the Spanish camp," Zafira said returning from the jungle. "There were too many to intervene directly. I had to wait until you awakened and caused confusion in the camp before I could aid you."

"Wait…," I said. "What did you just say?"

Brooklyn snapped his fingers. "That's why I know the name 'Zafira'! You're from the Mayan Clan, aren't you?"

"I am from _a_ Mayan Clan," she said, sprinkling plant pollen onto Brooklyn's wound. She then wrapped a leaf around his arm. "I am the Second in Command of the ChacIxchel clan, keeper of the Obsidian and Sapphire Pendants. The K'waiilAhPukuh Clan is closer to us, presently. They keep the Jade and Turquoise Pendants. There used to be four clans. One for each pendant. The other two clans merged with our two clans when the other two pyramids were abandoned."

"What does…" I started to ask.

"They've got these magic pendants," Brooklyn said grinning. "Prevents them from turning to stone during the day."

"WHAT?!" I asked, surprised. Egyptian mages had hypothesized that such a spell could be cast…But it would require blood magic…Which is forbidden in Egypt.

"To create such potent talismans," I said. "Would require something equally potent. Blood Magic."

"All magic requires blood, does it not?" Zafira asked, frowning.

"What? No! Blood Magic is Chaos Magic! It is evil and vile!"

"How can that be?" Zafira asked, sounding confused. "Blood is the life force of all living animals. What could be more potent or life-giving then a sacrifice of blood."

"I can't believe what I am hearing!" I exclaimed.

I paused, noticing a large round pool of water nearby, maybe about 4 cubits across.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It is a cenote," Zafira said. "There are a few around here. Underneath is a vast limestone cave network, filled with water. Holes occasionally open near the surface."

I fished an empty waterskin from the bottom of my satchel. I opened it, and dipped it in the stream.

"It is not fresh water," Zafira said. "It is salt water, like the ocean."

"Good," I said. "Then this will be an effective demonstration."

"My clan comes from a desert," I said. I pulled out a narwhal tooth with hieratic carved into it. "Drinkable water is more precious to us than gold."

I dipped the tooth into the water in my skin. The inscriptions on the tooth glowed blue.

"The water is now safe to drink," I said. To illustrate my point, I dipped the tip of the narwhal horn into the cenote itself. Once more the hieratic glowed blue, but now the water visibly cleared. Dirt and debris vanished, and you could even see the fish below the surface darting about.

I took a deep drink of the now-fresh water.

"No blood involved."

Suddenly, the large black cat that had rescued us from the Spanish encampment darted out of the jungle in front of me. Dangling around its neck was an ornately decorated necklace, with a bloodstone carved into the shape of its own head at the center of it. The bloodstone was glowing softly. A warm red glow spread from the stone and engulfed the creature. It changed shape, and moments later a human stood in the beasts place.

"But unreliable," the human sorcerer responded. "Your talisman will eventually fade. Its power will fade over time until it becomes useless. Sacrifices of blood carry potent magicks that will last for _baktun_ upon _baktun._ The very pendant _Zafira_ wears upon her neck, charged by the sacred sun amulet almost two _baktuns_ ago…Such a little amount of blood to charge it…And it will last for over a hundred _baktuns_ without needing more blood. And when the time comes for it to be recharged, only a few drops are needed."

"It always starts with a few drops…And then the Chaos grows."

"Slippery slope, then?" Brooklyn commented. "The more blood you use, the more you need for magic?"

"We are Mayans. Not those Aztec barbarians to the north.," He retorted. " _Zafira_ , I saved your life tonight. And the lives of three of your kind. Surely that is enough to convince _Obsidiano_ that-,"

"I am not _Obsidiano_ ," Zafira retorted. "I am only my clan Second, Six-Jaguar. I may disagree with my Leader. But I do not act against his wishes."

"You must be joking," Six-Jaguar said. "The Spanish march deeper into the Green, threaten both Maya and _Q'uq'umatz_ alike. You cannot ignore this threat. You must ally with us. Already they are within an hour march of K'waiilAhPukuh."

"It is not my decision," Zafira replied, steadfastly.

Six-Jaguar's pendant glowed, and he transformed back into a jaguar (as I later found out the creature was called) and bounded away into the jungle.

"What exactly do these…'Spanish' want?" I asked.

"It is something I am unsure of, myself," Zafira admitted. "It is why I have been spying on them these last few days."

"Money, mostly," Brooklyn said. "Rare gems and gold. Power. Possibly the land. They don't really have just one reason."

"There are no rare gemstones in this area," Zafira said. "Even the sacred pendants were made from imported stones and gold."

"Are you certain about that?" I asked. I had noticed something glinting in the water of the cenote that I had purified. I reached into the water and pulled out a small bluish-white crystal that had been wedged in the side of the cenote.

"Those crystals are common," Zafira said. "They can be found in nearly every cenote, and fairly easily in a dry cave about thirty feet from where you spent the day."

"This crystal is not common," I argued. Zafira and Brooklyn both looked at me.

I walked over to Brooklyn and ripped the leaf-bandage from his arm.

"Why would you…" Zafira started to ask as I pressed the crystal against Brooklyn's wound. Magical energy surged forth from the crystal, and the wound vanished, as if it was never there.

Zafira's eyes widened and she fell silent.

"This is Orichalcum. The rarest mineral in the world. It is literally crystallized magic."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brooklyn and I followed Zafira through the jungle for over an hour, mostly on foot, until we approached a massive step-pyramid. The Architecture was distinctively different from the pyramids I grew up with.

"Welcome to ChacIxchel Pyramid," Zafira said.

"Hey Benuthet," Brooklyn said. "I've always wondered. The Mayans and Egyptians both build pyramids. Any reason for that?"

"Yes," I said. "It is the best way to stack rocks so that they don't fall down."

Zafira snorted, and then muffled her laughter.

Other gargoyles were gliding or milling about the pyramid. A few had started a fire and were cooking some kind of stew near the base of the structure.

As Zafira had said, legs were very uncommon among her clan. Most were serpentine. I noticed bat-wing, and wyvern-wing styles were fairly common among them, as well as my own feather-wing style.

A larger green gargoyle in with a reptilian face and rainbow colored wings glided down from the summit of the pyramid, landing in front of us. Besides Zafira, he was the only gargoyle I could see that also had legs. Dangling around his neck was a small obsidian pendant, much like the sapphire one Zafiria held.

" _Zafira,_ " he said. "Where have you been? Tell me that you were not among the humans again."

"No…Of course not _Obsidiano,_ " she responded. "I…You said that I could go to K'waiilAhPukuh in order to court a mate. Since none of the males here are interested in me, because of my legs."

"I did say that," Obsidiano responded hesitantly.

"Look!" she said smiling and gesturing back at Brooklyn and myself. "Two males who seek to court me!"

"Wait, what?" Brooklyn said, having been caught off guard.

"I don't…" I stammered, off guard myself.

"If you expect me to believe that these two come from K'waiilAhPukuh," Obsidiano said. "Then you are fooling yourself _Zafira_. I hatched there, remember?"

Zafira looked at us pleadingly. Brooklyn and I glanced at each other.

"It is true," I said. "We are not from your sister Clan. I am Benuthet of the Alexandrian Clan, and this is—,"

"Brooklyn," Brooklyn said. "Of the Manhattan Clan."

"But…Zafira did not lie. We did come here to court her," I said. Zafira looked slightly relieved. But then Brooklyn spoke again.

"I mean…Have you seen her fight, she's incredible! Who wouldn't want to court her?"

Zafira winced.

"Fight?" Obsidiano demanded, and turned to his second. "So you have been among the humans."

"Wait," I said. "Your Second in Command saved our lives."

"I have no doubt she did," Obsidiano said. "And you should be grateful. But she has been told before not to go beyond the borders of the Green, and not to interact with the humans!"

" _Obsidiano,_ " Zafira pleaded. "These Spanish…They are not like the Maya."

"Humans are humans," Obsidiano interrupted. "They view this jungle as sacred. They will not trespass in our territory. And we will not trespass in theirs. That is the Clan Law."

"No offense," Brooklyn said. "But that's insane."

"Six-Jaguar of the Maya wishes to ally with our clans," Obsidiano said. "As the Maya did in the days of old. But I will not get involved. Humans can fight humans all they want. Leave gargoyles out of it."

"The Spanish are not like the Maya!" Zafira repeated. "They do not see the forest as sacred. If we do not take measures against them, then our clans will not-,"

"Enough!" Obsidiano declared. "You will go down to the Rookery until I say otherwise."

Brooklyn and I both winced. Being sent to the Rookery is a punishment for hatchlings. Zafira was not acting like a hatchling, she clearly had her clan's best interests at heart.

"You know she's right, right?" Brooklyn snapped. "The Spanish are a threat."

"The two of you are guests in my clan," Obsidiano said coldly. "As you are courting young _Zafira_. But you will not question my decisions. I am the clan learder here, and my word is final. You may eat and sleep here. You may court _Zafira._ And when she rejects one or both of you, you will leave."

The rainbow-plumed gargoyle turned and stormed off.

"Stubborn old coot," Brooklyn muttered.

"We should eat," I commented, pointing at the large pot where the ChaxIxchel clan was lined up for their evening meal. "You said that eating is a luxury we should not waste."

"Good point," Brooklyn said.

Brooklyn, his beast and I joined the end of the line. Several of the serpentine gargoyles gave us odd looks, and more than a few of the younger ones stared at our legs.

"Pretty isolated, aren't they," I commented. "I've never felt so uncomfortable merely having legs. And the last female that I courted was serpentine herself!"

"Yeah," Brooklyn said. "I've met gargoyles from Loch Ness, Scone, London, Xanadu, and the Carpathian Mountains…But none of them have ever given me a second glance because of how I look. I guess I just take it for granted sometimes that we gargoyles don't usually judge based on appearances. Is this how humans live all the time? How do they stand it?"

"I think we've just gained rare insight into human psychology," I said as we reached the end of the line. The purple-skinned gargoyle distributing the stew gave us a suspicious look, but then handed us three bowls. Brooklyn placed one at his feet, and Fu-dog eagerly gobbled it down and licked his lips.

Using the odd looking flatbread that he handed us, I took a scoop of the stew and took a bit. I could not identify any of the plants or meats within the stew, but it was delicious. I quite liked it.

" _Jalapeña!"_ Brooklyn exclaimed. "This stuff is spicy!"

"Yes!" the purple skinned gargoyle said, looking pleasantly surprised. "I did use jalapeños. Cultivated them myself."

Brooklyn chuckled half-heartedly as we took seats at the base of the pyramid. Brooklyn gestured to his beast, and Fu-dog happily shambled over to the ChacIxchel beasts and began playing with them.

"I should probably answer your first question now," Brooklyn said, taking another bite of our spicy stew.

" _Terra Nova,_ " I said.

"What?"

"I overheard one of the Spanish call it the 'New World'," I said. "Which is also what the Romans call it. _Terra Nova_ ; The continent across the sea beyond the straits of Gibraltar."

"Uh…," Brooklyn looked at me blankly. "You know about it?"

"I know _of_ it," I said. "Neither the Romans, nor Egyptians are exceptionally great seafarers. Most have never gone past New Olympus. But we are vaguely aware that this land exists. Not explored or documented by Roman or Egyptian Scholars, of course… Augustus sent some ships to explore this land not too long ago, but they never returned. And of course, the Atlanteans wrote about this land."

"Wow," Brooklyn said. "I really _did_ come from the dark ages."

"Brooklyn," I commented dryly. "You know how we told Obsidiano that we had come here to court Zafira?"

"Yeah?"

"Our intended mate is currently slipping off into the jungle as we speak. I can't say for certain, but I think that makes us pretty lousy suitors wouldn't you say?"

Brooklyn let out a sharp whistle, and in a flash, his beast was at his side.

"Guess we ought to follow her then?"

"I should think so."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where'd she go?" Brooklyn wondered.

"She was directly in front of us?" I said.

"Fu-dog," Brooklyn said. "Find Zafira."

Brooklyn's beast turned around and looked blankly at Brooklyn.

"Odd," Brooklyn said. "He's usually a fantastic tracker."

"Maybe she's downwind?" I asked.

"Or maybe he is a fantastic tracker, and already noticed that _Zafira_ not 'Zafira' is right behind you," Zafira said.

Brooklyn and I both jumped about three feet in the air.

"You two move through the forest like a pair of drunken tapirs," Zafira said, her arms on her hips. "What are you doing here?"

"We are supposed to be courting you, after all," I said.

"Look…Obsidiano is a cranky old coot," Brooklyn said. "We agree with you."

"Good," Zafira said. "Because I do need help. I think that K'waiilAhPukuh is in danger. I want to warn _Jade_ , the leader of that Clan, but I also wish to investigate the Spanish encampment."

"Tell us what to do," I said.

"Brooklyn," Zafira said. "You know these Spanish?"

"By reputation only," Brooklyn quickly admitted.

"Still," she said. "I think you stand the best chance of convincing _Jade_ that his clan is in immediate danger."

"And you," Zafira said. "You know sorcery, and this Orichalcum crystal. I want to know for certain if they are collecting it, and for what purpose."

I nodded.

Zafira turned towards Brooklyn. "Glide in that direction and you will find the K'waiilAhPukuh Pyramid. You should be able to see it from here."

Brooklyn and Fu-Dog darted off in the direction that Zafira had indicated. Zafira and I climbed a nearby tree and glided towards the Spanish encampment.

It was deserted. The entire camp was empty.

"Curious," I commented as we landed in the heart of the camp. It had clearly been occupied recently, but now…

"Where have they gone?" Zafira wondered.

A single tent in the center of the camp had the telltale glow of lantern light within it. Zafira and I quietly approached the tent and looked inside.

Two humans stood inside. One was cloaked, and standing in the shadows, the other I recognized from my _ba_ dream as Diego de Landa. A short, balding man in brown robes. Dangling around his neck was a golden totem or talisman that looked like a Roman Crucifix. Why anyone would wear a symbol of the worst kind of torture humans had ever devised was beyond me, but that wasn't what got my attention.

Sitting on de Landa's desk was the largest chunk of Orichalcum I had ever seen. About the size of a human skull. I know this, because it was carved into the shape of a human skull.

"This is why the Spanish have come," I said, working out the puzzle pieces in my head.

"What? Why? The Crystal Skull?" Zafira asked frowning.

"It is an Atlantean Talisman," I said. "They forged many talismans and artifacts from Orichalcum during the time of their empire. And they had Orichalcos mines all over the globe. Most of them they mined dry. But a few were still extant when they sank beneath the sea."

"Diego de Landa…The human in the brown robes, has been seeking the Orichalcos Mine where that skull originally came from."

"Why?" Zafira asked.

"To amplify the Skull's Power. Orichalcos Crystals from various locations all have different properties. If you want to enhance an Atlantean Talisman's power, you need crystals of the exact same properties as the those that make up the Talisman."

"What does the skull do?" Zafira asked as we watched de Landa place the talisman into a casket and lock it.

"That I can't tell you," I said. "But we must go. We need to find Brooklyn and the K'waiilAhPukuh clan. And it is almost dawn."

We darted out of the camp, unseen, and began gliding towards K'waiilAhPukuh. The sky slowly growing brighter. The pyramid was not hard to see. The stones were obsidian black and it towered over the jungle. At least twice the height of ChacIxchel.

At the base of the pyramid, I could see Brooklyn and his beast talking to a gargoyle whom could have been a dead ringer for Obsidiano. Same black hair and reptilian face, and the same rainbow-plumed wings. Unlike Obsidiano, however, Jade had a serpentine lower half. At a guess they were biologically related. Gargoyles don't usually think in terms of biology, but it was the only explanation my scholarly mind could conceive of for the similar appearance of the two clan leaders.

Zafira and I landed next to Brooklyn. He turned to say something to us, when suddenly a broken and bleeding jaguar stumbled out of the jungle. The talisman glowed and shape-shifted back into the Mayan sorcerer Six-Jaguar. Changing shape appeared to have healed his wounds, but the physical exhaustion he wore on his body was as ragged as the physical injuries he'd just had.

"Six-Jaguar?" Zafira said, looking baffled.

"The time of alliances has past," he said. "My tribe is dead. And soon yours will be too. Fly you fools. The Spanish are right at my heels, and dawn is not far behind them. Run. Into the forest!"

He shifted back into jaguar form and staggered. There was a loud noise and a flash of light from the nearby forest, and suddenly Six-Jaguar fell over, dead, a gaping hole in his jaguar-form's head.

Zafira, Jade, Brooklyn and I turned towards the source of the shot, but suddenly several more began ringing out. Zafira gasped, and collapsed. I caught her in my arms as she fell down, limp and ragged, a massive bleeding wound marring her bare midriff.

 _To Be Continued…_


	4. Act 2 Scene 2 Guatemala 1560 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Part 4**_

My protective instincts flared up. Without a thought to anything else that was going on I surged into the jungle. Away from the onslaught. The Spanish were attacking the pyramid. They hadn't even waited for the dawn to begin their assault.

Carrying Zafira's limp form into the nearby jungle, I charged through and bowled over a pair of Spanish soldiers. I quickly came upon a large wall snaking through the jungle towards the pyramid. It wasn't well maintained, and was partially crumbling, but it would serve.

I ducked behind the wall. There was a nearby section that had simply fallen down. I gingerly lay Zafira down against the wall. Her breathing was ragged, but I could still hear it.

"Come on,' I murmured. "Don't die. It's almost dawn…you can survive to the sunrise…"

 _Not again,_ I thought. _Please not again._

"I don't turn to stone anymore," Zafira whispered back to me, hoarsely.

Realizing the danger she was in, I immediately snatched her pendant from her neck, and ripped it off.

"No…" she groaned, limply trying to grasp at me. "The Pendant…It is a sacred trust with my clan…"

"You will turn to stone," I said. I glanced at her wound. It was quite large, and bleeding very badly. Dawn was minutes away, but there was a strong possibility that

Zafira wouldn't make it even until then.

I noticed something glinting in the wound, in the pre-dawn twilight. I reached into the wound with my thumb and index talon, and fished the item out. Zafira gasped in pain as I did this.

It was a round partially melted lump of lead. My logical mind kicked in, and I realized that the weapons that the humans were using were projectiles of some sort. Firing these spheres of lead at speeds that could kill.

I prayed to the Nameless Creator that there was only one of these spheres in Zafira's body. If there were more, they'd be in too deep for me to retrieve them. I wished that there were a way to make the sun come up faster, but the dawn still hadn't broken, and Zafira's breathing was becoming more and more ragged.

"I'm a fool!" I yelled. I dropped my satchel and began rummaging through it until I picked up the Orichalcos Crystal that I had found by the cenote. I pressed it into the wound.

Zafira did not react in pain this time. She was unconscious. The crystal glowed and began releasing magical energies, healing the wound, but it was clear to me now that the wound was far worse than I had feared. There must have been another projectile embedded inside her body. The wound was not healing easily, and the crystal was shrinking, like chalk being used up on slate.

I bit my lower lip, and then reached into the wound with my thumb and index talon again, gingerly feeling around. I could feel her organs…and then…something hard and metal. Carefully, slowly, I pulled the second projectile out of the hole and tossed it aside. I pressed my tiny shard of Orichalcos Crystal against the wound. The crystal dissolved into magic, but the wound did close, and Zafira's breathing became steadier.

I slumped backwards, sighing in relief. My talons and white fur were covered in Zafira's blood, but I was confident now that she would make it to sunrise. And if a gargoyle can make it to sunrise…they're probably going to live. Only a magical poison can survive stone sleep.

Zafira's body suddenly turned slate-grey accompanied by a sound like grinding gravel in a mill. I jerked in surprise, and crawled close to her. I gingerly touched her midriff where the wound had been. Cold. Cold and grey and hard…Stone.

Zafira had entered stone sleep.

It was only then that I realized that Zafira's sapphire pendant was still clutched in my left talon. Slowly, I turned my head eastward, and there it was. The sun had breached the horizon.

It was so warm. I hadn't expected that part. I had seen the sun many times in my _ba_ dreams, which is more than most gargoyles ever get. But a _ba_ dream is only used by Egyptian Mages; a simple way of staying active in the world while your body sleeps. Your spirit wanders, and learns important things.

Because your spirit cannot feel, a _ba_ dream you are always cold, mute, and impotent. This warmth that rushed over me as the sun slowly began to rise…I didn't expect it. But I unfurled my wings, and I basked in it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I washed Zafira's blood from my talons in a nearby cenote, using the water and my narwhal tooth purification talisman. I tied Zafira's pendant around my neck and sat down next to her stone form.

Having never skipped stone sleep before, I didn't know exactly how the healing process worked. Had Zafira already healed from her injuries the moment she had turned to stone? Or would the process take all day?

I decided that the latter was the safer bet, and determined to stand by her and protect her all day.

The morning was very boring. I regretted that I had only the Papyrus of Thoth as reading material.

I tried to ignore the columns of smoke from the K'waiilAhPukuh pyramid. I also noticed that the pendant didn't magically compensate for my exhaustion. I found myself starting to nod off to sleep human-style several times.

I considered simply removing the pendant and sleeping in stone myself, but decided that that was not wise. I gingerly touched Zafira's stone midriff where the wound had been once more.

For the first time ever, I truly understood just how vulnerable we were in stone sleep. How fragile. It is one thing to experience it when one turns to stone…but to see it from the outside, to remain flesh while those you love and care about turn to stone and become vulnerable.

I wondered if it was in fact some kind of sick joke. That the Mayan Clans pendant bearers didn't truly realize until they took on the duty, that perhaps the price of seeing the sun, was the sanity of the pendant wearer.

Or perhaps I was over thinking it.

Having never actually sat through a day before, it was actually difficult to mark the passage of time. The sun slowly moved across the sky, but I wasn't sure of the speed, or how long it would take to set. Typically I gauged the time of the night by the positions of the starts, as well as the moon. I could still see the moon, waxing, in the corner of the sky, but there were no stars. The sky was now an unsettling bright blue color.

I was feeling a bit relieved around the time that was likely mid-afternoon. The sun was finally starting to drift lazily towards the opposite horizon from which it had risen. I was guessing three to four more hours at the most, when a thin, familiar figure quietly walked out of the jungle toward Zafira's stone form and myself.

In a heartbeat I was on my feet and my _khopesh_ drawn, ready to fight to the death against Isabella Canmore, the Hunter. But to my surprise, she walked halfway through the clearing in front of the wall, tore off her mask, and tossed it aside, drew her sword, and then stuck in the ground in front of her.

"Parley, Gargoyle?" she asked.

I was so taken aback, I wasn't sure how to react. From what Brooklyn had described of this Hunter family…I'm fairly certain that what she was doing was unprecedented.

I saw her fight Brooklyn and Zafira. If she chose to engage me…I wasn't sure I could win. On the other hand, on the off chance she was sincere…my scholarly mind wanted to know the 'why'.

I dipped my _khopesh_ into the soil in front of me.

"Parley, Hunter," I responded.

She folded her legs into a sitting position next to her sword. I did the same.

We stared at each other silently for a moment.

"You are the one who requested the parley," I said, finally.

"That I did," she said. "This is not easy for me. All my life, I've been trained, told, that evil existed in the form of gargoyles. That gargoyles preyed upon the vulnerable…but I've come to believe recently…"

She looked down at the ground, clearly in utter turmoil.

"Diego de Landa may be a Franciscan monk," she said bitterly. "But he is no man of God. He slaughters and enslaves the innocent. He is unnecessarily cruel. He is more evil than any de—Gargoyle that I have ever seen. Including the beast that killed my mother."

I stayed silent.

"Diego hired me to help him kill yuir kin should you stand in his way," the said. "I trained all my life…but before last night, The Demon was the only gargoyle I'd ever met. The gargoyles around here…they dinnae bother the humans. They just kept to their pyramids. Diego de Landa shows up, and he burns down their villages. I can't help but notice that the so-called-monsters aren't the ones running around hurting innocents and destroying their lives."

"You have gained rare insight that many humans never see," I said. "Cherish your newfound wisdom. Tell me Hunter. You now see the truth, but what do you want to do about it?"

She hesitated, as if unsure about how to go about phrasing her next sentence.

"What I want to do…will get me disowned by the Canmore Clan," she said. "de Landa is planning something. I dinnae know what, but it is big. He needs the big black pyramid back there to do it, which is why he attacked it. I want to stop it. I want to stop him."

I stroked my mane below my chin.

"What does this have to do with me?" I asked.

"I am just one woman," she admitted. "I cannae do anything on my own. My skills will give me a small advantage, but de Landa still has an army of Conquistadores at his disposal. I cannae fight them on my own."

"Ah," I said, realizing what she was trying very hard _not_ to say. "You wish to make the Old Bargain."

"The what?" Isabella asked, frowning.

"Since the time that humans and gargoyles began walking this earth together," I said. "They have found that each had an advantage that the other did not. And so a bargain is struck between a gargoyle clan, and a human clan. The gargoyles will fight for the humans, and protect them like their own rookery…at night. And during the day, the humans will protect the gargoyles who sleep in stone."

Isabella was silent.

"The Old Bargain has had many variations, iterations, different details over the centuries," I said. "But at its core…it remains the same. We protect you and yours at night. You protect us and ours during the day."

"I dinnae know how much of this bargain I can fulfill," she said after a long silence. "I am but one person."

"Two people," I corrected.

"You dinnae count."

"I wasn't counting me," I said. "I was counting the young human over there in the bushes spying on us. He clearly has a crush on you, and the fact that he hasn't run off to tell de Landa that you are here bargaining with me, indicates that he does not intend to."

Isabella jerked in surprise and turned around towards the bushes. Alejandro de la Vega, one of the young Conquistadores who had helped find the Orichalos Mine cave quietly, blushingly walked out.

"You were upwind," I said. "I could smell you from the moment you arrived."

"I don't have a crush on _Señorita_ Canmore," he said.

"Your scent and body language say differently," I replied. He blushed again.

"Are you with us, then?" Isabella asked. Alejandro nodded. Although personally, I suspect that if Isabella told him to follow her off a cliff and into the sea, he'd have done that too.

"Tell me, Alejandro," I said. Alejandro blinked and looked surprised.

"How did you know my name?" he asked, frowning.

"How many of your fellow soldiers might betray de Landa?" I asked, ignoring Alejandro's question.

"I know at least 10 who are uncomfortable with what he's been having us do!" he said eagerly.

"Call that five," I said. "Being generous. Plus the two of you is seven."

"Then," Isabella said. "The Old Bargain?'

"I, personally, intend to help you, either way," I said. "But I cannot strike the Old Bargain on behalf of another clan. You must speak to Obsidiano, the Mayan Clan leader. He is a cranky old gargoyle. He's very stubborn and averse to getting involved against the Spanish. But if you want the gargoyle clan backing you up…Then you must convince him."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun slowly sank towards the horizon. It was actually something of a relief to me. It may sound silly, but when I was a hatchling, I thought that the duration between sunrise and sunset was several times longer than the night was. It was just one of those irrational thoughts that you have as a hatchling.

But now that I had spent the day awake, having seen the course of the day pass by, I could confirm with absolute certainty, that sunrise to sunset is roughly the same length as sunset to sunrise.

The twilight seemed to last forever, but it did bring with it a certain familiarity that I found comforting.

And then, as the last golden rays dipped below the horizon, I heard a crackling sound. I turned and faced Zafira. Isabella and Alejandro, who had been asleep near some trees opposite the wall, jerked awake.

A lattice of cracks began forming across Zafira's stone form, almost like she was breaking apart. Again, my scholarly mind was fascinated by this phenomenon. I had never seen gargoyles awaken from stone sleep from the outside before.

The cracks spread, and then Zafira burst out of her stone prison with an earth-shattering roar, her eyes blazing crimson.

"Welcome back," I said, gingerly helping her to her feet. "How do you feel?"

"Healed," she said quietly. "But not whole."

"Your pendant," I said, handing the talisman back to her.

"You…saved my life," she said quietly. "Did…did you stay here and guard me the whole day?"

"Yes," I said. "I could not do otherwise."

"A less honorable gargoyle could have simply taken my pendant and run off with it. We would never get it back, and you would have the day to yourself."

"It is possible," I said. "But I have never met a gargoyle who would do such a thing."

Zafira suddenly gasped, noticing Isabella and Alejandro. She reached for her obsidian sword.

"Peace!" I said. "She does not intend us harm. If she did, she could have inflicted it when she arrived four hours ago."

Zafira did not visibly relax one bit. Her talon gripped her sword tightly, but she did not draw it.

"You heard what Brooklyn said about her family. They hunt our kind!"

"Aye, that we do," Isabella said, quietly. "But this one does not. Not anymore. You have my word."

"She wishes to strike The Old Bargain with your clan," I said.

"You know that _Obsidiano_ will not make the Old Bargain with humans," Zafira said, frowning.

"He may change his mind, now," I said, and pointed in the direction of the K'waiilAhPukuh pyramid.

Zafira's face went steely. Like me, she was bracing herself for what she was going to find there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I retched in the bushes near the base of the pyramid. I thought that I had been prepared, but I was not. Zafira steadied me as I lost the contents of last night's spicy soup all over the bushes.

I had contemplated during the day the extremely fragile nature of our existence during stone sleep…but here was the living proof.

Piles of rubble, bits of stone gargoyles, shattered helplessly in their sleep, lay everywhere. On the pyramid, around it, near it.

Only two actual gargoyle corpses lay among the dead. Jade and his mate Torqueso had remained flesh at the dawn, and thus had been killed by conventional weapons. They lay on the ground just a few feet from one another, clasping talons.

Zafira tearfully bent down and removed their Jade and Turquoise pendants, silently slipping the talismans into a pouch at her side. 

I walked over, and saw Six-Jaguar's dead jaguar body. The shape-shifting talisman was gone. I frowned at this, but moved on.

Isabella stood off to the side, her eyes downcast, looking ashamed. Alejandro held her hand.

"Brooklyn," I murmured. Where was my friend? The time dancing gargoyle? Was he among the rubble? Or had the Phoenix whisked him away to safety before this massacre had come to pass.

My gut said that the latter was not likely. Brooklyn would not have abandoned the Mayan gargoyles of his own accord.

"Oh God," Brooklyn's voice said quietly, from behind me. "It's the massacre at Castle Wyvern all over again. Look away, kids."

Zafira and I turned around and saw him there. Brooklyn, his beast, and two very young gargoyles had all emerged from the forest. They were soaking wet, and but very much alive.

"Brooklyn!" I am not usually an emotional gargoyle. I'm a scholar and a mage. I prefer to think things over coolly and logically. But when I saw my friend, I couldn't help myself. I grabbed him and embraced him. "Why are you wet?"

Zafira bent down and led the two hatchlings away from the slaughter.

"First time you've seen a massacre?" Brooklyn asked me.

I simply nodded.

"It never gets better," Brooklyn said shaking his head.

"I thought that you were…Among them," I said.

"No," he shook his head. "I realized the sun was seconds away from rising. So I grabbed two hatchlings that were next to me, and jumped into one of those cenote things that Zafira showed us."

"That was incredibly reckless and stupid," Zafira said. "There are underwater currents that could have dragged you for miles down there. The Mayans believe that the cenotes lead to _Xibulba;_ the Mayan underworld. Because those who enter don't come out."

"I almost didn't come out," Brooklyn agreed. "I turned to stone almost right after I was in the cenote. And apparently, this goof followed me in…"

He affectionately petted his beast.

"Which actually ended up saving our lives, because when we woke up, he was the only one smart enough not to roar underwater. Dragged all three of us back to the surface."

"Good beast," I said bending down and petting him. "You did good."

Zafira reached into her pouch and pulled out a talonful of dried meats, she bent down and fed it to Brooklyn's Fu-dog.

"He does like his treats," Brooklyn said grinning.

"How did you guys survive? Last I saw, Zee here was bleeding out from gunshot wounds."

"Benuthet saved me," Zafira said quietly. "Found a secluded spot, removed my pendant, and made sure I turned to stone. It's the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me."

"Any gargoyle would have done the same," I said dismissively. Brooklyn bent down and examined Jade's corpse as I spoke, his brow furrowed.

"Any gargoyle did not do the same," Zafira said. "You did it."

"These two look like they were killed by arrow wounds," Brooklyn said. "Not bullets."

"Possibly," I said. "The wounds do seem cleaner than the ones inflicted upon Zafira."

"If they were killed by arrows," Brooklyn said. "Where are the arrows now?"

"Presumably the archer came and retrieved them?" I said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just…," Brooklyn hesitated. "A bad feeling. The Spanish don't seem like the type to use archers."

"It is true," Alejandro said, speaking up. "We have no archers in our number."

Brooklyn jerked back in surprise. He'd been so focused on me, and the massacre, he hadn't noticed Isabella and Alejandro.

"The Hunter!" He yelped, drawing his sword.

" _Ha-Tehp_ ," I said, deliberately fighting the Phoenix's translation magic in order to say the word in Egyptian and make it a spell. It worked, and Brooklyn froze.

"I had no part in this slaughter," Isabella said quietly. "I ran from it. I'd wager that if de Landa saw me again, he'd have me killed like he did the Maya or your kin."

"She speaks the truth," I said. "She spent most of the day with me. She seeks to stop Diego de Landa. She seeks to make the Old Bargain."

"A Hunter?" Brooklyn asked incredulously. "Wants to make the Old Bargain?"

I frowned. Now that my attention had drifted away from the slaughter that surrounded us, I could see something odd. Braziers had been placed upon the steps leading up the pyramid. I flared my wings and leapt up the steps three or four times until I got to the altar at the top.

Changes had been made. Bits of the Mayan symbols had been removed. Greek symbols had been hastily drawn in. Brooklyn, Zafira, Isabella, and Alejandro had followed me up the pyramid.

"What is he doing?" Brooklyn said looking at the Greek symbols.

"Mixing magicks," I said, quietly looking over the layout. A pentagram symbol had been drawn around the altar. Items had been placed at each of the star points.

"I have seen something similar to this before," I said quietly. "It is not, quite the same…But…I think that de Landa is…He's…"

"Spit it out, already," Isabella snapped.

"He is preparing an ascension ritual," I said. "He's trying to become a god."

"You cannae be serious!" Isabella said.

"You've seen this before?" Brooklyn asked.

"A variation. Ptolemy the First attempted such a ritual shortly after the Greeks conquered Egypt. It didn't end well for him."

"How does it work?" Zafira asked.

"It depends," I said. "There's two ways of doing it. If de Landa has an ancestor who is of the Third Race, then he can channel that magic and expand it, while burning away his mortal body."

"Third Race?" Isabella asked.

"Gargoyles, Humans," Brooklyn and I said at the same time.

"—And the Children of Mab."

"—And Oberon's Children."

I blinked at Brooklyn's response.

"Oberon? Mab's spoiled brat son? Since when?"

"Not sure," Brooklyn said, looking quite perturbed. "But I'm now like 98% sure that that's gonna bite me in the butt someday."

"The...Children of…Oberon, apparently," I continued. "Fairies, Sprites, Specters, and sometimes beings that humans worship as gods."

"Pagan gods?" Isabella asked.

"Often worshipped as gods, by humans yes."

"Gargoyles don't worship pagan gods though?"

"In general, we believe that there is a God. This God is nameless, and has no limits," I said. "Those spiritually inclined among us pursue knowledge of the Creator. Those that are not, simply believe that acting as protectors—as is our very nature as protectors—is sufficient worship."

"And…you've met members of this Third Race?" Isabella asked.

"I've met Thoth and Anubis," I said. "No one else."

"Oberon, Puck, the Weird Sisters," Brooklyn said. "Just a few. I've met a few."

"What if de Landa doesn't have any…Third Race ancestor?" Isabella asked, her mind still clearly reeling from our revelations.

"Then he will be acting out the second type of ascension ritual. He will turn himself into an Avatar. A vessel for a supernatural being. This method is far more dangerous."

"Why?" Zafira asked.

"Is this pyramid a place associated with-,"

"Yes," Zafira interrupted. "K'waiilAhPukuh, K'waiil, is the god of Kingship and Lightning. Ah Pukuh is the Mayan god of Violent and Unnatural death."

"Oh no…" I said, suddenly horrified.

"What?!" Brooklyn demanded.

"de Landa clearly wants to merge with K'waiil. A powerful god in the same vein as Jupiter, Thor, and Horus," I said. "This pyramid being sacred to both gods, he thinks that he can pick and choose…but he hasn't realized what he's done."

"What? What?" Isabella demanded.

"He's tipped the scales," I gestured at the slaughter that remained around us. "He views us gargoyles as sub-human. But to the Third Race, all mortals are the same. This K'waiil will view this temple as desecrated now. But this much violent and unnatural death…This Ah Pukuh will be drawn to it, like a moth to a flame."

"How do we stop him?" Zafira asked. "Because we HAVE to stop him."

"Agreed," Brooklyn said. "My clan leader once witnessed a madman become the Avatar of Anubis. He slaughtered hundreds. Diego de Landa is just as bad, if not worse…And Ah Pukuh sounds ten times worse."

"Such rituals must be cast at midnight or high noon," I said. "If de Landa planned for midnight, he would be here already, doing the final preparations."

"He knows that there are two gargoyle clans in this jungle," Isabella offered.

"Then he wants to perform the ritual at High Noon…to ensure that the gargoyles do not interfere."

"Then how can we stop him?!" Isabella demanded.

"There is a way…" I said, looking at Zafira's sapphire pendant.

"There are only four magic pendants, Benuthet," Zafira said.

"Yes…But…You said Orichalcum was common in the cenotes?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"Then there IS a way…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Obsidiano stared at us blankly as Zafira handed him the Jade and Turquoise pendants.

"I told you," Zafira said bitterly, and looked away from Obsidiano.

"What…" Obsidiano steadied himself. "What can we do? How can I protect my clan? How do I ensure that this does not happen ever again?"

"This is Isabella," I said. The Hunter stepped forward. "She seeks the Old Bargain. The one that you would not make with the Maya."

Obsidiano nodded. "It has come to my attention, that perhaps not all humans are the same, as I thought. I will make the Old Bargain. What would you have us do?"

"Diego de Landa is planning an evil ritual atop the pyramid," Isabella said. "I wish to stop him."

"The ritual will be cast at noon," I said.

"There are only four pendants," Obsidiano said.

"Right now," I said.

Alejandro exited the jungle. Seven Spanish warriors appeared behind him, carrying a trunk.

"Seven of them defected," Alejandro said.

"More than we expected," I nodded. "Did you get what I asked for?"

"Easily," Alejandro said. "He rejected about half the crystals. Tossed the rejects into this box."

I ripped the metal lock off with my bare talon, reached in, and pulled out a glowing Orichalcos Crystal.

"Imperfect for de Landa," I said. "Perfect for us."

Zafira gingerly handed me her sapphire pendant.

"What are you doing?" Obsidano asked.

I touched the crystal to the sapphire, and forced myself to speak Egyptian.

" _Hi-nehm!"_ I said. The Orichalcos Cyrstal glowed for a moment, then turned solid sapphire, then back to crystal.

"What did you just do?" Obsidiano asked.

"I cast a simple spell my mentor taught me with his Orichalcos Crystal," I said. "The Joining Spell lets you take a spell that has already been cast, or exists…And replicate the spell temporarily."

"So you just…"

"For Seven Nights," I said. "This crystal will have all of the magical properties of the last spell it came in contact with."

I reached into the trunk and pulled out more Orichalcum.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We stood atop the ChacIxchel pyramid summit. A single Orichalcum Crystal remained unclaimed. I slipped it into my satchel. It might be useful following the fight. As long as the Crystals remained infused with the energy from the pendants, their normal powers—such as healing—Were gone.

Obsidiano had quietly handed Brooklyn and myself the Jade and Turquoise pendants. A loan. The old gargoyle had been very quiet ever since we had shown up. I think he felt ashamed at his stubbornness. If he had listened, then perhaps the K'awiilAhPukuh Clan might still be alive. Or perhaps both clans would have fallen. It's difficult to gauge the what-might-have-beens. Especially for Time-Travelers.

History is a constant. It cannot be changed or altered, no matter how hard you try. The Egyptians tried very hard to wipe anything from their history that they didn't like. But in the end, they only destroyed records. History itself remained unchanged.

Brooklyn sucked in a deep breath. His beast licked his lips, as we stood atop the pyramid.

"Anxious about seeing the sun come up?" I asked.

"I've seen the sun…Technically," Brooklyn said. "Phoenix dropped me off during the day once. Took my body like…Two minutes to adjust and realize that I should be stone. It was freaky."

"This is different," I commented.

"Yeah."

"The strain may be a bit much for the Sun Amulet," Zafira said, joining us. I noticed a leaf-bandage around her left talon.

"It was meant to power four pendants," she said. "Not seventy-two."

"Seventy-Five," I said. I tapped the Jade pendant around my own neck, and gestured to Brooklyn and Fu-dog.

"Nevertheless," Zafira said. "Energy is energy. I didn't want the amulet to burn out. So I added my blood to the amulet to recharge it."

"Smart," I commented. I still felt uncomfortable about the Blood Magic, but it seemed like the Mayans truly did use it responsibly.

The dawn broke. The enchanted Orichalcum Crystals glowed. There was a collective gasp from the various Mayan Clan members who had never seen the dawn break before.

Zafira reached behind her and unsheathed her obsidian blade from the sheath on her back.

"It begins," she said. We unfurled our wings and launched into the morning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Despite the sun now having been up for several hours now, the sky was overcast. A storm was brewing overhead. An ominous sign.

As we glided towards the pyramid, there was a sound. The Spanish had seen us coming, and were now firing upon us. More shots rang out.

A dark blue colored male suddenly plummeted from the sky.

"No!" I heard Brooklyn cry out.

"These weapons are powerful," I said. "But very inaccurate. The Spanish seldom seem to hit what they aim for."

"They're weapons of intimidation and fear," Brooklyn agreed.

I drew my _Khopesh_ and dived upon the Spanish guarding the base of the pyramid. I landed and began engaging them hand to hand.

A dozen beasts bounded out of the forest, led by Isabella Canmore and Brooklyn's Fu-dog, striking the Spaniards where they stood, and knocking them to the ground.

With a swift motion I sliced through one of the arms of the nearest soldier. He staggered away from me, clutching it in pain. I saw a flash of red from the corner of my eye, and I saw another Mayan gargoyle fall from the sky.

Brooklyn landed next to me.

"Arrows," he said scowling. "I knew it. He's here somewhere."

"Who is here somewhere?"

"An old enemy," Brooklyn replied, and darted away from me.

It was nearly high noon. I needed to reach the summit and stop de Landa's spell. I lunged towards the steps of the pyramid, when a burly Conquistador blocked my path. He lunged at me with his weapon, and with a sweeping motion, sliced through the leather chord holding the Jade pendant on my neck.

I desperately grasped at it as it fell, but to no avail. I entered stone sleep.

But only for a moment or two. Longer than the time that the Humility Spell had taken, but still short. I burst forth from my stone shell with a roar to find the Jade pendant firmly around my neck once more.

The Conquistador who had removed it lay broken and bleeding at my feet, with Zafira standing next to me.

"Remind me never to anger you," I said.

"I plan to," she smirked.

Flashes of light began firing off from the pyramid's summit. Magical Energy crackled through the air.

Zafira and I exchanged and glance and went bounding up the steps.

Diego de Landa stood at the top of the pyramid, the Orichalcum Skull sitting upon the altar, resting upon a small bed of much smaller Orichalcum Crystals. The skull was coated with red blood, and de Landa smirked at us.

"Too late," he whispered.

Then his body expanded. Bloating to six times its normal size. He had become incredibly fat. The skin on his face sank inwards, as though all the fat had drained from it. A bony skull-like face upon a gigantic fat bloated body.

The Roman Crucifix twisted and changed shape, bending around itself, and his robe reduced to a tattered loincloth, making him look even more disgusting and bloated.

" **At last!** " he declared, a second voice speaking in semi-unison with de Landa's own imposing voice. " **I am free from Oberon's Law!"**

"A possession Avatar," I murmured. I had seen this before. Experienced it before. It was what I had truly been afraid would happen. Diego de Landa had thought that he could become a god. That he could cast an ascension spell and control the entity he summoned into his own body.

Ah Pukuh however, had other plans. He controlled de Landa now. And as a partial mortal, he was free from the usual restrictions that he faced.

" **Not interfere in mortal affairs,** " he said sounding irritated. " **But how else am I to cause violent and unnatural deaths?** "

He laughed, a creepy echoing sound, and pointed. Zafira and I ducked out of the way just in time. A large blast of black energy erupted from his finger and launched out into the fray. Several dozen Spanish, and Mayan Gargoyles all exploded violently, and unnaturally. Zafira and I looked at one another in horror.

Ah Pukuh/de Landa smirked at us and laughed. He pointed directly at us this time. I hastily reached into my satchel and yanked out a Wadjet Amulet—The Eye of Horus—And held it up as the blast hit. Zafira clutched my arm and shielded herself under my wing as a small glowing shield appeared around us.

My Wadjet crumbled apart, and my shield with it. This far from Egypt, I was unsurprised.

"Can we crush the skull?" Zafira asked. "Will that break the spell?"

"Breaking the connection would end the Avatar, and free de Landa," I said. "But neither of us could break Orichalcum with our bare talons. The substance is too hard."

I fished through my satchel and pulled out a shabti in the shape of a gargoyle warrior. I threw it at de Landa. It expanded in size and lunged at him. In seconds de Landa/Ah Pukuh vaporized it into dust.

"Do you have any magic that can stop him?" she asked desperately.

I rifled through my satchel again. The Serpent's Crown was out of the question, of course. Tana leaves. Oils. The Papyrus of Thoth…Nothing useful. I was in grave trouble. Then I hit something soft.

"Yes," I said. "I can stop him. But I need a distraction."

"You have one," Zafira said. In an instant, she had drawn her obsidian blade and was striking relentlessly at de Landa. He raised his finger to explode her, but she dodged far too quickly. I was almost enraptured by the beauty and precision of her strikes.

I lunged at the crystal skull, pulling out the one item in my bag that could end this. The one magic in my possession stronger and more potent than Blood Magic.

I poured the purified cenote water over the skull, washing the blood away.

The reaction was instant. Ah Pukuh screamed and de Landa's body reduced to its original proportions. The Avatar had been cleaved.

The skull suddenly began pulsing and shuddering. The pyramid began to shake, violently. I ran over and grabbed Zafira's talon in my own. We leapt from atop the building just in time, as the pyramid collapsed in on itself. Burying the skull, the altar, and anyone who might still have been inside.

The remaining Spanish fled as quickly as they could. Collecting ourselves, the gargoyles and Isabella's Spanish defectors, who seemed to have doubled in numbers since we had arrived, retreated back into the jungle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Pity we couldn't keep those," Brooklyn said. The two of us stood at the edge of the jungle by the ChacIxchel pyramid. "Time travel sucks…But at least during the day, it would suck less."

"The pendants belong to the Mayan Clan," I said, watching Isabella and her Spanish followers mingling among the gargoyles. Several of the Mayan humans from Six-Jaguar's village had shown up during the fight, apparently seeking refuge with the ChacIxchel Clan. They had been welcomed with open wings.

"We didn't have the right to take them," I said.

"Yeah," Brooklyn said. "Fu-dog's Crystal pendant isn't a bad consolation prize, though. It's got, what…Six more nights left?"

I placed the pendant-enchanted crystal in my satchel, in a separate pocket from the ordinary Orichalcos Crystal.

"Six nights and some change, if it remains unused," I said. "It only loses the enchantment while active. Since daylight is a rare gift for our kind, best to save it for an emergency or special occasion."

"Cool," Brooklyn said.

"I should also point out, that since the spell draws its power from the Mayan Sun Amulet, that it will be useless if we dance to a year prior to the creation of said amulet."

"Less cool," Brooklyn said. "Do you know how much time is before the Tenth Century? Like…Most of it."

He turned and looked back at the Mayan Clan, wistfully.

"We should be going," he said.

"Are you sure it's going to come?" I asked.

"After a while," Brooklyn said. "I kinda have a sixth sense about these things. It's coming. I can feel it in my bones."

We ducked into the jungle, slipping away from the Mayan Clan and her new human friends, and into the darkness.

We had maybe made it a hundred feet from the camp when I heard a familiar voice speak.

"So where are we going, exactly?" Zafira asked.

Brooklyn and I jumped about three feet in the air again.

"How do you do that?" Brooklyn demanded, "You're like a cat!"

"You're leaving, yes?" Zafira asked.

"Yes," I said. "It is our intention to depart."

"I thought that you two were courting me?" Zafira asked. "Did you not want to hear my decision?"

Brooklyn and I blinked.

"I have a certain fondness," she admitted. "For a gargoyle who not only saved my life, but also acted with wisdom and honor, and saved my clan."

She stepped forward and reached up, and stroked my mane.

"Oh you have…SERIOUSLY?!" Brooklyn said, turning and walking away, throwing his talons in the air. "What does a guy gotta do to catch a break around here?"

I reached up and stroked Zafira's hair.

"If I asked you to stay with me…would you?" She asked.

I considered. I honestly hadn't considered my feelings for Zafira before now. She was an incredible warrior. Smart and insightful too. I considered the way that I had acted when she had been hurt. Though I still had a duty to dispose of the Serpent's Crown…I could definitely see making a life here with Zafira.

"Yes," I said, quietly. " I would."

"Good," she said smiling and stepping away. "Then I made the right choice. So…where are we going?"

"Wait…" I asked. "Zafira?"

"It's not _Zafira_ anymore," she said smirking at me. "Though I do like the name 'Zafira'. I might keep that. I returned the sapphire pendant to my clan. Turns out that I rather missed stone sleep. You don't know how you feel about something till it's gone. But I'm not going to miss my clan. I loved them…but I was an outsider there. _Obsidiano_ has given me his blessing. I'm going with you."

"You don't even know where we're going!" I objected.

"Sure I do. I'm going with you."

"Dude," Brooklyn said. "If you tell her she can't come, then I'm so gonna punch you in the face. Do you know how long I've waited for a female to say things like that to me? Shut up, she's coming, or I swear by the Dragon I am turning this flaming time-traveling bird around!"

Zafira bent down and handed some dried meat to Fu-dog, who eagerly gobbled it up.

I looked at Fu-dog's face as he gobbled up the meats.

"It would seem that I am outvoted," I commented.

"So…for the third time…Where ARE we going?"

"I…Back to ChacIxchel, I guess," Brooklyn said. "Kinda expected the Phoenix to show up by now."

"Well that's gonna be awkward," Zafira muttered. "I already said my goodbyes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Diego de Landa sat down at his desk. Bleeding and bruised, but alive. He took an Orichalcos Crystal from his desk, and gently touched it to each of his wounds, quietly healing himself._

 _"Well?" he asked of the cloaked figure standing silently by the desk. Diego de Landa gingerly fingered Six-Jaguar's shapeshifting talisman as he spoke._

 _"Your methods were a tad bit…Extreme, for my tastes," the cloaked figure said, removing his hood to reveal a scarred, balding head. "But I can't really argue with the results. While you had the Mayans and Gargoyles distracted, my men stripped the caves and cenotes of all the precious Orichalcos Crystals. Those crystals will be invaluable in the future."_

 _"So you are pleased," de Landa stated._

 _The man reached into his cloak. It was odd…Typically, in a_ ba _dream, information, such as a person's_ ren _or name was given to me automatically, as a matter of course. But this shrouded figure had such a negative aura, and so many nome de plumes, I couldn't sift his True Name from the pile. But there was a moniker that Brooklyn knew him by, and that name stood out among the others._

 _"Very," Brother Valmont said. "You passed your initiation."_

 _Brother Valmont handed de Landa a small scroll, sealed with an icon of an Egyptian Pyramid with an Eye above it._

 _"Welcome to our organization."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Phoenix spat us out onto a large open plain, with a small set of cliffs overlooking us.

"Where are we?" Zafira asked.

"The question isn't where, my love," I said smirking. "It is when."

I turned and looked at Brooklyn. "I understand why you do that now, it is _fun._ "

Brooklyn didn't respond, he just glanced at a small herd of very large creatures grazing on the plains.

"Huh," I said. "I've never seen a brown furry elephant before, but…I am hungry and I do need ivory for a new wand. Shall we?"

The three of us drew our swords, and launched towards the animals…

 _To be continued…_


	5. Interlude North America 4,016 BC

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Interlude**_

I embraced Zafira, my wings cloaked around her body. I gently ran my talons through her hair, as she did the same with my leonine mane. She smiled, and then broke our embrace. Walking over and tending to the fire where we were curing and drying the mammoth meat.

It had been a long time since I had felt this kind of affection. And frankly…The first time that it had been sincere. Isfet had never loved me. She had used me. Zafira's love was real, and it was a world of difference. She squeezed my talon once more before returning her attention to the meats.

Brooklyn sat by the cave entrance, gently petting Fu-dog.

"You guys make a cute couple," Brooklyn said as I joined him. The sky was cloudless, and with no clouds, every star could be seen. It was the kind of night that makes a gargoyle glad to be a gargoyle.

I sat down next to Brooklyn and fished the small chunk of mammoth ivory from my satchel and began whittling it with my talon. It wasn't as supple as hippo ivory, but when I was done, it would make for a more than adequate wand.

"I don't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," I said. "Or like you are a the odd gargoyle out."

"Nah," Brooklyn said. "I'm just happy you guys are happy. I mean that. When Angela chose my rookery brother over me; that broke my heart. Especially since try as I might, I couldn't get away from the lovey-dovey couple. I thought that that was the worst feeling in the world. Then I met the Night-Winged Gargoyle, and started to fall for her, and then Dracula murdered her. And then I understood that heartbreak—real heartbreak—Is so much harder to deal with."

He glanced up.

"I'm not upset that Zee picked you, Benny," Brooklyn said. "I thought I would be, but I think I'm starting to grow past stupid crushes and rushes. Or maybe I'm just not over the Night-Winged Gargoyle yet. I dunno. But I really am happy for you two. Even if I'm upset that the Phoenix hasn't given me a real chance at love myself."

I decided not to mention that the stories of the Timedancer that I had been told as a hatchling featured a sword-wielding pale-blue female who was said to be the Timedancer's mate.

I figured that Brooklyn might want to be surprised. Just speaking from experience, love is best when it is a surprise.

"There's no need to be bitter, Brooklyn," I said. "I'm certain that when you need love the most, then the Phoenix will take you there. Just as I am sure that he brought you to me, because you needed a friend. I think we've both gone a long time without a friend."

"You have a much more pleasant perspective of the Time-Fowl than I do," Brooklyn said. "History has been such a hellhole, I sometimes wonder why the Phoenix picked me to be his little meat-puppet."

This bitterness stunned me for a second, but then I spoke up again.

"You really don't know who you are, do you?" I asked.

"I'm the one that the Phoenix drags across history in order to make sure that it's fulfilled," Brooklyn said bitterly.

"No, Brooklyn," I said. "That's not your job."

He looked at me quizzically.

"History happened," I said. "Or will happen. Nothing you do is going to change that. So whether or not you do anything during any of your Dances is meaningless. History will be fulfilled regardless."

"So why-?" Brooklyn started to ask.

"As you say…History can be a dark and unforgiving place," I said. "So many gargoyle clans…Smashed to rubble by humans. So many wars, so many slaughtering of innocents. If only there was a beacon of hope in this troubled darkness…"

I looked directly at Brooklyn.

"You are that beacon, Brooklyn. You are a lighthouse in a dark sea of Time."

"Lighthouse in a dark sea of Time," Brooklyn repeated. "Have you been reading Jeffrey Robbins?"

"The Phoenix has chosen you—And any who choose to travel with you—To journey across the tapestry of history itself. The question you have to ask yourself, is what are you going to do with such a gift? Mope around while villains like de Landa and Dracula murder the innocent? Or are you going to be the single voice crying out in the night 'no, this isn't right, and I will not let it pass'?"

"In the time that I've known you, Brooklyn, you convinced an entire summit of Clan Leaders to defend Rome, saved my life twice, and single-handedly convinced a Hunter of gargoyles to stop. And that's just since I've met you. I can't imagine what you've done before you met me."

"More of the same," Brooklyn admitted.

"Then, my friend," I said. "Why would you stop, when you've had such a positive affect on history?"

"You know," Brooklyn said, marveling at the revelation. "I can't see a single reason."

"You were my favorite story and hero when I was a hatchling," I said. "Now, I am happy to call you my friend."

Brooklyn smirked.

The brilliant night sky suddenly lit up with orange light. Brooklyn and I glanced up.

"Zee! Grab whatever's done cooking!" Brooklyn said. "Our ride is here."

 _To be Continued…_


	6. Act 3 Scene 1 Heidelberg 1942 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Part 5**_

 _I stood in the center of a clearing deep in a forest. Cold snow clung to the ground and a heavy mist hung in the air. I heard the braying of hounds in the distance, and a shadowy figure stepped forth from the trees._

 _It did not speak, and I could not make its form out clearly, but the outline was unmistakable. Nine Cubits tall, including its antlers. Four legs, and two arms, like a New Olympian Centaur, but thinner, lither. And despite its cervine appearance, it moved slowly, methodically. Like a leopard or lion._

 _"You should run, Gargoyle," the creature said. "The Hunt has begun."_

 _He took a curved ram's horn and put it to his lips, and blew it. A sound issued forth like nothing I'd ever heard before, and the sounds of the baying hounds began coming closer and closer._

 _Fear surged through me and I turned. Fleeing as fast as I could. The hounds baying loudly as I fled in terror. Faster and faster…Like an antelope fleeing from a cheetah. I was the prey, and there was nowhere I could run to escape._

 _In a flash, the hounds were upon me, tearing into my flesh, ripping me apart._

I awakened from stone sleep with a roar, and then clutched my head in pain. The daymare had given me a migraine so bad that couldn't focus. I noticed Brooklyn and Zafira clutching their own heads on the nearby castle parapets. Even Fu-dog looked upset and in pain.

We had arrived two nights before in a town known as Heidelberg, approximately 400 years into the future from Zafira's time period, during an era that Brooklyn called "the Second World War".

Zafira and I found the human technology to be a marvel in this time period; Carts that pulled themselves with no horses. Streets illuminated by lanterns that had no flame. Brooklyn was the only one unimpressed. In fact, he was constantly on guard. According to him, we were deep in enemy territory. He told us about an evil man who came to power in Germany in this time period, and tried to conquer the world.

"My friend Griff, of the London Clan fought them," Brooklyn said.

"Are we close to your time period then?" I wondered.

"About 55 years off," Brooklyn said.

After hastily eating the mammoth meat that we had managed to finish cooking from the previous dance, we explored the small town of Heidelberg. The town did not appear to play any role in the larger war theater, and remained relatively quiet, although quite a few of the "Not-See" soldiers could be seen marching through the town.

Brooklyn assured us that while this time was tumultuous, that the "Third Reich" would eventually fall, and lose this war, though, as with the Spanish, he was sketchy on the details. He knew a little more about this period from conversations with his friend Griff, but knew little about the conflict from within the borders of Germani, as Griff was a native of the Clan of the Britons, or at least one of their descendant clans.

As we explored the city, we came across a "chocolate shop" which Zafira had insisted that we sample their wares. She said that chocolate was a Mayan drink, and she was fond of it. She was somewhat disappointed with the actual chocolates though. Instead of a spicy drink, as she was expecting, the Germani chocolates were brown bars that tasted extraordinarily sweet.

She _did_ like the brown bars, but was disappointed that it wasn't the spicy drink. I quite liked the chocolate too. It was richer and heartier than honey, but a pleasant sort of sweetness.

Brooklyn had insisted that we roost upon the castle looming above the town. Personally, I thought that one of the temples in the village or the nearby woods would be safer, but Brooklyn insisted. He was hatched and raised on such a castle, and felt more comfortable upon the parapets of the castle than anywhere else. So we relented.

That was the first night the daymares happened. The dream hadn't been as intense then, but it was the same dream. It troubled me greatly. The Phoenix had liberated me from the tormenting dreams that Apophis had unleashed upon my mind, because, I assumed, that the Snake couldn't track my mind as it moved through centuries.

As a Sorcerer, I was trained in the art of the _ba_ dream. To teach our spirits to leave our bodies while we sleep, in order to glimpse things of value. I had used it for years, until the night I had donned the Serpent's Crown and lost everything. After that night, Apophis used his limited connection to my mind, to rebind and re-imprison my _ba_ in order to torment me, night after night.

Now something as strong, or possibly stronger than Apophis had begun tormenting my dreams, and imprisoning my _ba._

I had expressed my concern regarding my dreams to Brooklyn and Zafira…Who fearfully stated that they too had had terrible dreams. This horned entity.

Brooklyn gathered up his beast and leapt over to my parapet. Zafira joined me on the other side.

"I had the dreams again," she said solemnly. "The same horned creature, the same hounds…Ripping me apart."

Zafira shivered, and instinctively I folded a wing around her, sharing my body-heat with her. We were both unaccustomed to this cold, and it was very unpleasant. When we had arrived, we had landed in a large bank of snow, which I had only read about, never seen before. Brooklyn complained more about the snow than either Zafira or myself, but I could also see that he was tolerating it far better than we were.

"Something here is stalking our dreams," I said. "And I do not believe that it is limited to us. The Not-See soldiers have the telltale signs of exhaustion. You can see it in their eyes."

"The villagers too," Zafira said. "I went back to the chocolate shop, in order to see if the shopkeeper might have some proper spicy _cacao_ drink…"

"Did he?" I asked.

"No," Zafira said. "Furthermore, he had no visible reaction when I walked in and asked him personally. He was that exhausted."

"Probably shouldn't have done that," Brooklyn muttered. "But yeah…Freaky dreams are for everyone. Yay."

"How long has that been there?" I asked, pointing down towards the castle courtyard. A large altar made of animal bones had been erected in the center of the courtyard, braziers already lit.

"They added it, during the day," Brooklyn said. "There's now ten more Nazi guards than there were last night. Something big is happening."

No sooner had Brooklyn spoken, but a dozen of the horseless carts began to enter the castle courtyard. The weather, which was already ridiculously cold, seemed to become even colder when these vehicles pulled in.

Two Not-Sees stepped out of the first, and largest vehicle, and walked to the back. They spoke to each other for a few moments, before opening the back. A female gargoyle stepped out and into the snow.

"DEMONA!" Brooklyn snarled, his eyes flaring white. He reached for his sword, and prepared to launch into the fray. Zafira and I grabbed him and stopped him.

"Brooklyn," I said. "Those Not-Sees have guns like the Spanish did…And I'm wagering that 400 years has improved the accuracy and design of the weapon."

Brooklyn calmed down in the face of my cool logic, though he was still irritated.

I glanced down at the female gargoyle. She appeared to be in her mid-sixties, with blood-red hair and pale blue skin. Her wings were wyvern-styled like Zafira and Brooklyn, and like Zafira she had spurs at the joints. She wore a halter-top and loincloth, and carried what appeared to be a parchment or scroll in her left talon.

The Not-Sees were all giving her a wide berth, but they were not panicking or attacking her.

"They appear to be on friendly terms," I said.

"More like allies," Brooklyn said. "Demona doesn't do 'friends with humans' but she'll use them to serve her own purposes if she can."

"This is the gargoyle who created the Hunters," I said, remembering something that Brooklyn had mentioned in passing during our dance to Zafira's time.

"How can she still be alive then?" Zafira asked. "Did she cause the Hunters and then was cursed to sleep for a thousand years like you?"

Brooklyn had told us that his clan had slept in stone for a thousand years as a result of a spell cast from the _Grimorum Arcanorum._

"Heh," Brooklyn said. "No. Demona is immortal thanks to a pact that she made with the Weird Sisters and a human king named Macbeth. She spent the thousand years of slumber awaking, and screwing over human-gargoyle relations left and right. She really doesn't like humans."

"What is she doing here, and now? In this time period?" I asked.

"Don't know. But if she's here…The worst, most evil, gargoyle that I've ever had the misfortune of meeting, teaming up with the Nazis, the worst that humanity has ever produced…In a nutshell…Bad. Really bad."

"We should get closer," I said. Brooklyn nodded, and scooped up Fu-dog. The three of us unfurled our wings and quietly glided down, and landed behind the horseless-cart nearest to Demona and the lead Not-See.

"And as you can see," the lead Not-See was saying. "Per your instructions…And the instructions of the _Führer_ the altar has been completed to your exact specifications."

"Good," Demona said dismissively as she circled the Altar of Animal Bones, inspecting it for flaws.

"I'm pleased Heinrich. You follow orders well,"

"I do my job," Heinrich replied, sounding annoyed. "Will you be doing yours? The _Führer_ believes in your fanciful tales. I believe what I can see with my own eyes."

"Then see and believe, Heinrich," Demona said, standing before the altar, and unfurling the scroll.

She began to speak in the gutteral, ancient language of the Goths. The braziers around the altar ignited.

"That's a summoning spell," I said, recognizing the commonalities between the Egyptian and the Goth spells.

"We should stop her!" Brooklyn said drawing his sword.

Recognizing that this was a magical threat, and not a physical one, I reached into my satchel and pulled out my wand. I touched it to the stone floor and spoke in Egyptian.

" _Sa-Per,"_ I said. A glowing hieroglyph appeared where I touched the ground, and then flowed outward. The glyph then appeared in front of every Not-See in the castle grounds.

"What was that?" Brooklyn asked.

"A safety net," I said. Zafira drew her obsidian blade and nodded. We surged out of hiding.

The Not-Sees reacted instantly. They began firing upon us with their weapons, but thanks to my spell, not one bullet hit its target.

Demona spun around and faced us. Her eyes were filled with green magical energy. She looked irritated, but not so much that she stopped casting.

" _Fulminous venite!"_ I declared in Latin. A burst of lighting issued forth from my wand. Demona raised a talon and deflected the lighting with it.

I stood in stunned shock.

Demona suddenly stopped speaking, the incantation portion of her spell complete. She reached to her side and lifted up a ram's horn. A familiar looking hunting horn.

Demona blew upon it.

The same sound from our daymares issued forth, and we all clutched our heads as the migraine intensified.

"The Gargoyle of the Sword," Demona sneered, as her eyes returned to normal. "I wondered if I would see you again. I don't know your game here…And I don't know where you found your little friends…But you can't stop me. He has come to reap. The Lord of the Hunt has arrived. Behold and tremble before the might of Der Erlkönig!"

The shadows above the altar of bones coalesced, and the horned figure from our daymares appeared atop it. His cold, glowing green eyes looked upon all within the courtyard with distain. The fear from my dreams returned. We were nothing but prey to this creature.

And I recognized the name, too.

"No," I whispered.

"You've heard of this guy?" Brooklyn said.

I looked at him. His dark red skin was several shades paler than normal, and he looked rooted to the ground.

I glanced at Zafira on my opposite side, and she too was paralyzed with fear.

"Queen Mab," I said. "Has had many lovers over the years. But only one she considered worthy to be her husband. Cernunnos. Faunus. Herne the Hunter. Der Erlkönig. He sired Oberon—Mab's most powerful child."

"This thing is…Oberon's DAD?!" Brooklyn yelped.

"Eventually, Mab felt that the Erlkönig was too dangerous to roam free," I said. "So she confined him to the Black Forest in the Goth territories."

Demona chuckled.

"Until now," she said. "An altar of bones, made from animals killed in the black forest. One of your Horns, shed during the Wild Hunt. And an ancient summoning spell penned by Wotan the Goth."

"You're kidding," Brooklyn said.

"My minion!" she declared. "I want you to hunt the Humans. All of Them!"

" _Was?_ " Heinrich snapped. "This was not the deal, Demona!"

"I am altering the deal," Demona said, picking him up by the throat.

"No," the Erlkönig said.

"What?" Demona's head snapped and looked at the Erlkönig. She dropped Heinrich.

"I am twice bound," the Erlkönig said. "First by my Queen, confining me to the Black Forest—a territory rapidly shrinking—and second by my cowardly son, whose edict to not interfere in Mortal Affairs remains firmly in place. I cannot begin the Wild Hunt under these restrictions."

"How fortunate," Demona said. "I am not bound by those restrictions."

She spoke something in the language of the Goths, and poured a small phial of oil on top of her ram's hunting horn. The Horn began to glow in her hand. Suddenly, the Erlkönig collapsed, falling off the altar.

The fear and dread that he'd instilled upon me evaporated, and I found I could move again.

The Erlkönig began to shrink in size, and staggered to his feet.

Demona on the other hand…Her skin turned a sickly green color, and her body began to expand in size. A pair of massive deer antlers erupted from her head.

" _Was ist das_?!" Heinrich yelped.

"A siphon Avatar," I said. "Demona is siphoning the Erlkönig's power, drawing it into herself!"

"Yes!" the Erlkönig laughed. "YES. Let the Hunt begin!"

"Indeed," Demona sneered. "But first I will need some hounds. Heinrich, you've been such a good lapdog for Hitler…Now you can be my lapdog!"

Demona waved her hand over him, and suddenly Heinrich collapsed, falling to the ground on all fours, he transformed into a massive black hunting hound.

Demona turned towards the other Not-See guards, and with a wave of her talon, each one transformed. Each becoming a different breed of hunting dog, most I didn't recognize, though I spotted a greyhound—an ancient Egyptian breed—among the transformed.

"And I haven't forgotten about you," Demona said. She waved her hands over us.

Zafira shrieked in pain. Her clothes vanished, and wings retracted into her body, she collapsed onto all fours, and her long, braided black hair retreated into two black feathery-tufts behind her crest. Her snout elongated and became reptilian.

The gargoyle that I loved had transformed into a beast. She looked very similar to the beasts of the ChacIxchel Clan.

"No!" I yelped. An odd, reddish glow surrounded me, and a similar, bluish glow surrounded Brooklyn and Fu-dog.

"Why haven't they changed?" Demona demanded.

"Good question," Brooklyn said.

"This one is already claimed," the Erlkönig said, gesturing at me. "By Apep, serpent of the desert wastelands. The power of the Hunt will not lay claim on the prizes of others."

"And the gargoyle of the sword?" Demona asked.

"He, and his hound, have been rendered immune to the arts of all of the Third Race," the Erlkönig said. "A unique gift that can only be given or rescinded by my Queen or my whelp of a son."

"It doesn't matter," Demona sneered. "I have my hounds. Let the Wild Hunt begin!"

Demona blew her Hunting Horn, and the hounds—and Zafira in beast form—All brayed to its sound, and then went bounding off into the night, leaving Brooklyn, the Erlkönig, and myself alone in the castle courtyard. I could only watch in horror as Zafira bounded off alongside Demona.

"She's going to slaughter every human in the village," Brooklyn said. "Maybe more, if we don't stop her. Got any ideas?"

I glanced at the still shrinking Erlkönig, who cocked his horned head and looked at us curiously. As if wondering the same question himself.

"The Erlkönig is one of the most powerful members of the Third Race," I said. "On par with Oberon, Mab, Titania, Odin, Jupiter, and Ra.. We could never hope to defeat him. But…"

"But?"

"Demona is siphoning his power," I said. "Which means that she doesn't have access to all of it. If we could increase our own power enough to get ahead of her, before she siphons too much of the Hunter…Then we might gain the advantage over her."

"How do we do that?" Brooklyn asked.

"By becoming Avatars ourselves," I said grimly.

"What?" Brooklyn demanded. "No wait…Can't we just…Cut up the Hunting Horn?"

"Nay," I said. "That would stop the flow of power, but it wouldn't release that which she's already accumulated. We must cleave her of the Erlkönig's power altogether. In order to do that, we must kill her."

"She's immortal," Brooklyn countered.

"I know," I said. "I'm counting on this. Killing her even temporarily will release the Wild Hunt's power, restoring it to the Erlkönig."

I began placing tana leaves from my satchel into each of the braziers.

"What are you doing?" Brooklyn asked.

"It is crude," I said. "But I need to alter this altar to allow for the use of an Egyptian Summoning Spell."

I reached into my satchel and pulled out the Papyrus of Thoth. I then dropped the satchel and kicked it aside. Best not to be holding the Serpent's Crown when summoning _Netjer_.

"In the name of Ma'at," I declared reading from the scroll. "In the name of Order and in opposition to Chaos, I adjure and compel you. Come forth from the Dominion of the Duat, come forth and do my bidding!"

I raised my wand, and struck the altar.

"Is this going to work?" Brooklyn asked.

"Maybe," I admitted. "I was vague on the summons. And this altar of bones was meant for him-," I gestured to the shrinking hunter "—but this the best chance we have of—."

I stopped short. Twin beams of light had appeared above the altar. There was a flash, and standing atop the Altar of Bones stood two beings, each 5 cubits tall.

The first one was impressively muscled with tan and white skin. His head was that of a falcon, wickedly curved and razor sharp. His garb was that of a warrior, complete with _khopesh_ at his side. He wore the crown of upper and lower Egypt upon his head.

The second figure was blood red and lanky. He wore a simple linen kilt, not so dissimilar to my own. His head was that of an aardvark.

"Lord Set," I declared. "Lord Horus. Thank you for responding to my summons so quickly. I need your help."

"What is this altar?" Horus demanded.

"The Altar of Bones, nimrod," Set said, sneering at his counterpart. "Some damned fool of a Mortal has summoned Herne the Hunter."

"It is true," I said. "And there is not much time. She is siphoning his power, and beginning a Wild Hunt in this village this very night. The only way she might be stopped, is if a fully merged Eye-Avatar takes her down."

"You have been one with Apophis," Horus sneered. "I would sooner kiss a goat than merge with you."

"I can arrange that goat," Set snipped.

"Please, Lord Horus," I said. "I do not deny that I have merged with Apophis. But that was so long ago. I beg your help."

"No," Horus said.

"Wow," Set said, looking genuinely surprised. "And here I thought that I couldn't think any less of you,"

The Falcon god gave Set the fish-eye.

"It's true, nephew" Set said. "I've always had a rather low opinion of you…but this surprises even me."

"What do you mean, Lettuce-Breath?" Horus demanded. Set winced at this moniker.

"The three things in the world I thought that we agreed upon," Set said. "That Ra was the greatest of pharaohs, and that snake-face the scum of existence."

"This is true," Horus replied.

"That Oberon is a far greater ruler than that old bat Mab ever was," Set continued. This surprised me. All the stories that I had heard had indicated that Oberon was a spoiled brat. To hear that he was a better ruler of the Third Race than Queen Mab was quite a shock.

"Also true," Horus said.

"And that the _Harmakhis_ are true and noble warriors," Set continued. "Worthy of the respect of all Egyptians."

"THIS IS ALSO TRUE," Horus snapped.

"Clearly it isn't," Set snapped back. "These two _Harmakhis_ have summoned us here and begged for our help. The only reason not to grant their request is if you don't actually believe that the _Harmakhis_ is a true and noble warrior worthy of the respect of all Egyptians."

"I will help you," Set said.

"I will also help you," Horus declared. "But I will not merge with the _Harmakhis_ who was once one with Apophis."

"I will merge with him." Set said. "He's clearly not housing Apophis NOW."

"I appreciate your volunteering, Lord Set," I said. "But I must merge with Horus. As you said, I have been one with Apophis. I cannot house two Chaos gods within my mind. The strain would destroy my sanity. It must be Horus. A Lord of Order to balance out the Chaos I have already consumed."

"I like this _Harmakhis,_ " Set said. "He is wise. What say you Horus?"

"No," Horus declared firmly.

"We can't waste any more time," Brooklyn said. "I'll merge with the chicken-guy. Let's just get on with it."

"In the names of Osiris, Isis, and Set," I declared, reading from the Scroll of Thoth. "Let the spirit of Horus flow into this Vessel."

I pointed at Brooklyn. Horus burst into glowing white light and lifted into the air, flowing towards Brooklyn. I shoved my friend out of the way and stepped into the path. Horus's energy struck my like a bolt of lighting.

I doubled in size, my linen loincloth became more ornate and armored. Bluish black speckles appeared along my wings, and my leonine face erupted into a massive falcon-like beak.

 _No!_ Horus screamed within my mind. _I can feel the foul snake's presence everywhere. You tricked me!_

"You tricked him!" Set said, sounding delighted.

" **We do not have time to transfer his essence to Brooklyn,"** I declared, Horus's deep baritone voice ebbing and flowing with my own.

" **In the names of Osiris, Isis, and Horus,** " I declared, reading from the scroll. " **Let the Spirit of Set flow into this Vessel!** "

Set burst into glowing white light and flowed towards Brooklyn. Unfortunately, Fu-dog had seen me push Brooklyn out of the way, and fearing his master was in danger, shoved Brooklyn away. Set's essence flowed into the beast.

"If people could just stop shov—," Brooklyn started to say, before realizing exactly what had just happened.

Fu-dog tripled in size, turning bright red. His snout elongated into an aardvark like snout, and his ears became larger and pointier.

"Fu-dog?" Brooklyn asked of his pet.

Fu-dog barked in acknowledgement. I heard Set's voice echoing in ancient Egyptian behind the bark.

" **Treats?** " Set's voice echoed.

Horus had ceased protesting the transformation in my head. Now he was laughing uncontrollably in delight.

"No treats yet," Brooklyn said, petting his beast. "After we beat Demona."

Fu-dog whined.

" **Demona bad, Treats good, we beat her. Squirrel!"**

Horus's laughter in my head had become uncontrollable.

" **If we don't have time to transfer Horus, then we don't have time to transfer Set either,"** I said. **"We've wasted too much time already."**

Horus's laughter grew louder with my revelation, but I had no time to focus on that. My hearing had improved with the transformation, and I could hear the screams of humans on the wind as Demona's Hunt continued.

With an effortless flap of my wings, I was in the sky. I hadn't even had to glide, Horus's magic had granted me true flight.

Fu-dog transformed into a massive dust tornado and scooped Brooklyn up.

Together we flew over the city. We could see several humans dead in the streets, and several more hounds had joined Demona's retinue.

We landed on the bridge in front of Demona's path. Fu-dog reverted back from being a dust tornado and became the warped and twisted looking red beast again.

Brooklyn staggered over to the edge of the bridge, and deposited the mammoth jerky we had eaten yesterday into the river.

Demona and her hounds stopped at the edge of the bridge, sizing us up. Zafira's _sha_ form was right at her side. A pang of pain struck my heart as I saw her. Horus noticed this.

Demona's form had changed too though. She was loping on all fours now, and her talons appeared to have melted into hoof-like shapes. Her wings had grown thicker and sprouted more fingers. She was becoming more and more Erlkönig-like,

"Do you really think you can stop me?" she sneered. "I grow in power every second, and my hunt grows! This World War will be the War to End All Wars…As it will end all of humanity!"

"Not on my watch, Demona," Brooklyn said, drawing his sword.

Fu-dog growled.

" **That is the bad gargoyle,** " Set's voice echoed. **"She is very bad."**

" **We will stop you!"** I said.

Demona snapped her fingers. The hounds surged forward.

They were innocent humans and we all knew it. I could have obliterated them with a fraction of Horus's power…But to do so would have killed the innocents within.

And Zafira was tearing wildly at Brooklyn. It was all that he could do to stop from slicing her head off with his sword.

" **Please stop,** " Fu-dog snarled and scratched at the hounds. **"I do not want to hurt you. My master is a good and kind master and he told me not to hurt humans if I can help it!"**

 _Now, Benuthet,_ Horus said suddenly. _Strike now, because in a moment, she will be too powerful for even us!_

Fu-dog howled, and a massive dust storm erupted around him, sending the hounds lashing at him flying.

" **No more!"** Set's voice echoed.

I lunged, and Horus's magic boosted my speed. With a swift lunge of my _khopesh_ I had stabbed Demona in the gut.

I batted the hunting horn from her chest, and stepped on it; shattering it with my talon. I angled my hook-like blade upwards, and drove the sword deep into Demona's heart. She screamed, and the green Hunting magic flowed out of her, escaping into the ether. Her body reverted to normal, and she collapsed. I pulled my blade out, and with a swift motion of my talon, magically cleaned the blade.

The hounds all glowed and transformed back into the humans that they once were, collapsing to the ground unconscious.

In a flash I was by Zafira's side as she too reverted back.

" **It's okay, Zafira,"** I said as quietly as I could. **"It's me."**

 _Allow me,_ Horus said. Without thinking, I snapped my fingers, and in a flash of light, Brooklyn, Fu-dog, Zafira, and I were back in the castle courtyard.

" **Treats now?** " Fu-dog whimpered.

" **Not yet, Fu-dog,** " I said. **"First you must give up Set, and release him. Then treats."**

Heading my own advice, I focused my mind, and released Horus from my service. His energy dissipated from my body, and I shrank down, shifting into my natural appearance. Horus reformed in front of me.

Fu-dog did the same, and Set reformed in front of him.

Brooklyn took Zafira's satchel, a back that she normally had strapped to her back, and opened it, pulling out the largest juiciest chunk of mammoth meat that Zafira still had in there. He handed the strip to his beast, who noisily ate it up.

"I like _shas_ ," Set said, shuddering. "But I don't like them that much. I'm going to bathe in the purifying springs at the source of the Nile for the next two decades."

"Don't hurt his feelings, Set," Horus said. "He's standing right here. Besides. He made you like, eight times more handsome."

"You are never going to let me live this down, are you?" Set asked.

"I'd wager that Nephthys would take you back if you re-merged with him!" Horus said..

"Thank you, my Lords," I said bowing. "I know it wasn't what you exactly had in mind when I summoned you."

"Believe it or not," Horus said. "I had fun. And I touched your mind, Benuthet. I now know the circumstances under which you became Apophis's Avatar. You may have done it under your own volition, but it was not done under your own will. You are indeed a worthy _Harmakhis_. If you ever have need of me again…I would be honored for you to be my Avatar."

"And Fu-dog!" Set said. "Don't ever touch me again. Ever."

The two Egyptian gods vanished into the night. Zafira groaned in my arms. She was regaining consciousness.

"My love!" I said, embracing her, even as I let her down.

"I'm so sorry," Zafira said shuddering. "I couldn't control myself…I saw and heard everything. Brooklyn, is your arm all right?"

"It'll be fine after sunrise," Brooklyn responded. "No harm no fowl."

"What about Demona?" Zafira asked.

"She's immortal," Brooklyn said. "She'll survive."

"She likely won't remember tonight very clearly though," I said. "I speak from experience."

"I am impressed," the Erlkönig said. We all jumped in surprise. He had been standing there, silently, since we returned. Slowly growing back to his original size as Demona's released magic flowed back into him.

"You hunted Demona down like a fox," he continued. "And the Hunt is all that matters to me. You are worthy hunters, and you killed your quarry. I haven't felt a hunt like that in ages. I will reward you."

"That's really not necessary," Brooklyn said.

The Horned god held up a golden colored leaf, which flittered over to Brooklyn.

"Rip that in half," he said. "And it will create a glamour so powerful that even I cannot see through it. But only for a half-hour."

We stared at the leaf quietly.

"Also…If any of you trespass in the Black Forest," he said. "Then I will hunt you down and claim your wings as my trophies."

And with that, the Erlkönig vanished.

"Well," I said, frowning. "This was a sufficiently terrifying night."

"Agreed," Zafira said. "Let us never do it again."

"Seconded," Brooklyn said leaning over and slumping forward on his sword.

There was a burst of fiery orange light, and the Phoenix had returned.

We all let out a sigh of relief, and leapt upwards, the Phoenix snapping us up one by one.

We tumbled through the flames of time and out of the fire, landing in soft _deshret_ sand, rolling over ourselves and standing up, dusting ourselves off.

"Soft landing this time," Brooklyn commented. But I had gasped in horror.

There was a massive cobra's head, carved out of bloodstone sticking out of the sand behind him, it's maw wide open, and leading down a set of steps into a massive underground cavern.

Familiar sounds were coming from within the cavern entrance, and I could see the soft orange glow of torchlights down within the cave. I involuntarily took a step backwards.

"No…It can't be…" I said, still horrified. "There's no way that the Phoenix could have taken us here…Not here…Not now!"

"What is it, my love?" Zafira asked.

"Benny, you're freaking me out," Brooklyn said.

"It is the worst night of my life," I said. "It is the night that I donned the Serpent's Crown and became the Avatar of Apophis. It is the night that my life ended!"

 _To be concluded…_


	7. Act 3 Scene 2 Egyptian Desert 11 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Part 6**_

My mind was reeling. Every fiber of my being was on fire. We stood at the entrance to the cobra shaped mound.

"I have to stop it…" I murmured.

"Benuthet!" Brooklyn said. "You can't change history. It's inviolable."

"I have to try!" I pleaded. Then turned from my mate and my friend, and loped towards the cave entrance.

I stood up at the entrance; a gigantic bloodstone cobra head, jutting out of the desert sand, its maw open wide. A stairway within the gaping mouth led down into the ground. The familiar musty smell struck my nostrils. Blood and mildew. A smell I had never gotten out of my head.

A pair of glowing red eyes looked up at me from the bottom of the stairs. The eyes suddenly rushed up the stairs towards me.

"Kebechet!" I cried out in joy. I bent down and hugged my pet _sha._ I hadn't seen her since this very night.

She was a thin, lanky beast, with a narrow snout and pointed half-moon ears. Her skin was as black as Zafira's obsidian blade, but trimmed with gold around her ears, leg-spurs, and talons. Her whip-like tail was long, and ended in a diamond-shaped spade.

She licked my talons and then my face. She then turned and looked at Brooklyn, Zafira, and Fu-dog. She trotted over to Fu-dog and sniffed him, before playfully nipping at him.

"Kebechet was my first love," I said Zafira, still overcome with emotion upon seeing her. "She was the runt of the clutch. I raised her myself."

"She's beautiful." Zafira said, bending down and petting the _sha._

I turned and looked down the tunnel into the earth. I cloaked my wings, and darted down the steps. Distracted by Kebechet's arrival, Brooklyn and Zafira didn't realize that I was gone for several seconds.

I ran down the steps, which opened up into the large temple interior. The massive chamber, softly illuminated by orange torchlights. A massive throne rested at the far end of the chamber; and in the center, a pedestal where the Serpent's Crown rested. At the bottom of the stairway, I took in the scene.

I was so certain that when I got down here, I was going to leap into the fray, and change my own past, but no sooner was I down here, then my heart leapt up into my throat, and all I could do was watch as the events replayed themselves before me.

Ten cubits from the stairs, my slightly younger self was being held by four human men, each wearing red-gold talismans boosting their strength. Their backs turned to me. In front of them was a beautiful young gargoyle female. She wore a thin white halter-top, and nothing below the waist. This was because her serpentine lower half required no coverings. Her long, braided white hair was almost the length of her serpentine tail, and her wings had no fingers at all, giving her an even more cobra-esque look.

Her skin was bright red, almost orange, compared to Zafira's darker shade of red, and Brooklyn's _much_ darker shade of red.

Speaking of whom, having caught up to me at the base of the stairs, Brooklyn reached into his pouch and pulled out the Erlkönig's glamour charm that he gave us. Brooklyn ripped the leaf in half and a shimmering light surrounded us. Hiding us from my past self. Zafira reached out and entwined her four-fingered talon with my five-fingered one. (The five-fingered talon is a common trait among Egyptian _Harmakhis._ Isfet also possessed five fingers)

"But I don't understand _why!?_ " My Younger Self yelled. "I loved you! And you did this?"

"The Cult of Apophis raised me," the serpentine female said. "Bred me, for this purpose. I am to be my master's vessel in this world. You were an incidental. A distraction at most."

"Why would ever serve Apophis?" My younger self begged, still confused. Truthfully, even today I still didn't understand it.

"You DARE to ask me that?" she hissed back. "For years I have been shunned because of my appearance. Red Skin, the color of Chaos. Combined with my serpentine nature. I was viewed with suspicion by even the most open minded of Egyptians. Treating me as some sort of servant of Apophis."

"You ARE a servant of Apophis," I snapped.

My younger self looked around in confusion, wondering where my voice had come from, and I vaguely remembered hearing that myself when I was he.

"Yes," she smirked. "But that's not really the point is it? No one looks at me and sees _me_. They just see a symbol of evil."

"I saw you," my younger self said, his voice cracking. "I loved you. I wanted you to be my mate."

"You were so lonely," she said, still smirking. "So easy to manipulate. I should thank you…I really wouldn't have found this place without you."

I was holding back tears that I knew my younger self was actually crying.

"Poor Benuthet," she said in mock sympathy. "All your life you've been alone, and different. Thoth gave you a name, but you've never understood why, or what it means. I also have a name, but unlike you I have always know what it meant. What my purpose in this world was. I am _Isfet_ , I am Chaos itself."

The four guards holding my younger self released him. They didn't need to hold him anymore. My younger self was reeling at the revelation of the name of the gargoyle he thought that he'd been courting.

"And now," Isfet said, turning her attention to the pedestal with the crown resting upon it. "I think it's time for my ascension"

My younger self suddenly realized that he was loose, and before his captors could grab him again, and before Isfet could react, he bolted past her and grabbed the crown, placing it on his own head.

"You…What have you done!?" Isfet screamed.

"I saved you…" my younger self said, before suddenly doubling over in pain. Red lighting began arcing everywhere from the crown. I wanted to look away, because I knew what was coming next, but I couldn't take my eyes off of my past self.

His skin and fur turned red. Not Brooklyn's dusky red, or Zafira's ruby-red, or even Isfet's burnt orange-red. Blood red. Pure chaos. His face—Or my face rather—twisted and became reptilian. His tongue became forked and flickered in and out of his mouth. My cat-like nose warped into two slits, and his pupils became horizontal slits.

The feathers on his wings became thick and heavy, like tallow-wax, and began melting together.

His legs merged with each other, and his tail, morphing into a massive thick tree trunk snake tail (with an odd little leonine tuft on the end.)

 **"AT LAST!** " he yelled, my own deep voice ebbing and flowing around Apophis's cruel raspy voice. **"At last, after all this time, I am FREE!"**

"I was to be your earthly vessel, master!" Isfet pleaded. "Not him!"

" **You poor foolish** _ **Harmakhis**_ ," he laughed. " **You really believed that nonsense about being bred to be my perfect vessel. The fact is, it never mattered who donned my crown, so long as SOMEONE did. I just made up that lie about needing a perfect vessel to give my cult a sense of purpose. If they didn't have some goal to achieve, some function to serve, they'd have ceased worshiping me long ago."**

"Busywork," Brooklyn muttered. "Benny…What's about to happen here?"

I didn't answer. Isfet looked on the verge of tears.

"But I will don the crown willingly," she said.

" **But this one already has,"** Benuthet/Apophis hissed back. **"And his knowledge of sorcery could come in handy for when I destroy Egypt and this, so-called Roman Empire that seems to be in fashion."**

"Please master," Isfet begged. "Let me serve you."

With a swift motion of his claws, he slashed open the chests of two of the four men who had been holding him/me. Then collapsed to the floor dead. I suddenly found myself aware of what was happening…knowing it was coming. Imoved to stop it, but was sluggish.

The blood from the two dead men solidified into dual _khopesh_ blades. With a quick motion he stabbed Isfet in the heart, and she collapsed to the ground. The two remaining guards turned and ran. Not towards the stairway out, as one might logically go—I imagine that all logic and reason left them at that point—As they ran deeper into the temple, towards the maze of caverns that lay underneath us.

I didn't know their fate. I didn't care. I had regained sense of my wits now, and rushed towards Isfet's limp form, clutching her wildly.

 **"You can serve me in death,** " Apophis laughed through my mouth. He slithered over to the throne and sat down. Sparks of red lightning began flowing from the crown. I didn't care. I held Isfet. She gasped and looked up at me, helplessly. Then she looked over at the Apophis Avatar in confusion. Then back at me.

I suppose she thought that she was hallucinating as she lay there dying. She gasped and coughed.

"I'm sorry Benuthet," she whispered. "I should never—Cough—Should never have gotten you involved in this. I thought being his avatar made me special. But you always thought that I was special. I wish I had seen that. I wish I had loved you back. I pray that when Anubis weighs my soul…That he will be merciful."

"Isfet," I cried out, the tears flowing down my face. I had tried, and failed to change the past. My own emotional turmoil over these events had held me back. As, no doubt, they had for my future self when I was the one sitting upon Apophis's throne.

Time Travel is a cruel joke.

"Benny, BENNY!" Brooklyn snapped. "Benny, we need you back. Erlky's glamour's wearing off, and we're gonna have to fight that guy. I need your help. I need to know what happens next."

"I don't know," I said blankly.

"What?"" Brooklyn asked.

"I have no memories of tonight after killing Isfet. The horror of which still haunts me to this day."

"Well it shouldn't," Zafira snapped. "You didn't kill Isfet. That thing inside your body did. And now we need to save him. To stop him."

Zafira bent down and looked me dead in the eye.

"This one never loved you Benuthet. She even admitted so herself. But _I_ do love you. Please come back to me. Don't live in your past."

"Benuthet," Brooklyn said, as Fu-dog and Kebechet began growling in the direction of the Avatar.

"You're the expert on Avatars, right?" He asked. "What have we got here?"

"It's a siphon and a possession avatar," I explained, still sitting, still holding the limp lifeless form of Isfet. "Like de Landa, Apophis is controlling his body and crushing his mind. Like Demona, he's not all there yet. His power is being siphoned from somewhere else. Like water through an aqueduct."

"Apophis was imprisoned deep beneath the _deshret_ long ago, by Ra," I said. "Except for the Serpent's Crown. It's Apophis's one tether to the world outside his prison. It is the aqueduct. Any mortal who wears it becomes his puppet. And he can then siphon his magical energy through it, and into him."

"So if we remove the crown?" Brooklyn asked.

"He will kill you," I said quietly "Before you even can."

"Immune to the Third Race," Brooklyn said. "Remember?"

"Doesn't need to kill you directly," I said, pointing towards the twin swords made of solid blood. "If he stabs you with that, you're just as dead as if he had used magic on you."

"Then how do we stop him, Benny?" Brooklyn demanded.

"If the crown is removed," I said. "It clogs the flow of the aqueduct. And the magic will dissipate with no solid connection to the earthly plane. He can't kill my younger self, or he'd lose all the magic he's invested in him so far. He's trying to siphon his entire being through. So he has to go slowly."

"Interesting tidbits," Brooklyn said. "That, unfortunately, are not HELPFUL tidbits."

"He's doing the best he can," Zafira said.

"Magic aqueduct," Brooklyn said. "Come on Bee, give me something here. ANYTHING before the glamour wears off."

"There's nothing you can do, Brooklyn." I said quietly.

"Benuthet, you are standing right in front of me!" Brooklyn said. "Which means that the crown was removed, somehow, before this Apophis guy got through. All we need is the Point A to Point B. So help us out here!"

"I…there isn't any way to beat him!" I said, at a loss.

Brooklyn let out a frustrated gutteral growl.

"Benuthet," Zafira said, quietly. 'You told me that your logical analytical mind is your prized attribute. It is something that I prize in you as well.. If we cannot beat your past-self in direct confrontation, then what can we do? Could we…Perhaps, clog the aqueduct of magical energies. Divert it, or slow it down somehow?"

I shook my head.

"It's a good thought," I said. "But…The Energy flows through the Serpent's Crown. There's only one Serp-,"

I stopped short. My mind was suddenly racing like mad. I gingerly put Isfet down and stood up.

I reached down and opened my satchel, pulling out the sheepskin bundle once more. I unfolded the bundle.

"Holy shit!" Brooklyn yelped, leaping back as if it was covered in scorpions. "Have you been carrying that thing with us this entire time?"

I nodded but didn't speak.

"Zafira is right," I said. "The flow of magic can be diverted; because we have _two_ Serpent's Crowns. This will weaken him. And we can remove the crown from my past self's head."

"How?" Brooklyn said, his eyes narrowing.

"I must do the one thing I swore never to do again," I said. "I must put it on."

"No!" Zafira said, reaching for the crown. "Let me. You don't have to go through this again."

"But I do," I said, stepping away from her. "It has to be me. If one of you dons the crown, Apophis will sense a second mind immediately. But if I don it…Because I am the same being he is already possessing, he will be unable to distinguish my mind from my past-self's right away. It has to be me."

"Um," Brooklyn interjected. "If you put that on…Aren't you going to go all snakey and possessed too?"

"'Snakey' yes," I said smirking. "Possessed? I think not. Apophis is powerful. None can deny that. But I doubt very seriously that he can control two hosts at the same time. I do not believe any Children of Mab could—save maybe the Weird Sisters."

"And if you are wrong?" Zafira asked.

"Then be ready to kill me," I said. "My past self survives this confrontation. There is no guarantee that I will."

"Not gonna happen dude," Brooklyn said.

"You may not have a choice," I said. I sucked in a deep breath…And donned the crown.

How does one describe wearing the Serpent's Crown? Imagine that someone draped a cold cobra on the back of your neck. Only instead of your neck…It was your very mind.

Red lightning flowed like a wave from the crown over my body. My skin turned red. I felt my face stretching and twisting like wax. I grew in size. But my wings remained feathered and my legs remained.

I staggered forward, clutching my forehead. Apophis could sense that something was wrong. He wasn't quite sure what, but he could feel that his power was being split, instead of flowing directly.

 **"What sorcery is this?"** he demanded, standing up from the throne.

It was then that the Erlkönig's glamour failed. I'm certain that it was not the half-hour that was promised…Just as I am also certain that it was the chaos magics within the glamour that caused the magic to fail.

In any case, the three of us suddenly became visible.

"Zee!" Brooklyn yelled. "Time to move!"

My friend drew their swords, and each ran in the opposite direction, Fu-dog at Brooklyn's side, and Kebechet at Zafira's. The Avatar of Apophis hissed and lunged at them.

I raised my talon, and a blast of a desert storm erupted forth from my hand, blowing him back. I moved to do more, but that's when Apophis's mind touched mine.

 _I see now,_ he hissed in my head. _The Phoenix has moved you through time to me. You realize of course this means nothing. All I have to do is release your past self, and wait. History will be fulfilled, and I will still have you as my host, you foolish_ Harmakhis.

The scene around me changed. Suddenly, I was no longer standing in the Temple of Apophis, but stadia away, atop the Library of Alexandria, where I spent most of my days. I looked around in shock.

 _Welcome to your Mindscape, Benuthet,_ Apophis's voice declared.

A massive blood-red serpent rose from the ground in front of the library, and looked down upon me, sneering. His body twisted in shape, his face becoming more leonine in appearance. He looked at me, now a double of my Avatar-Of-Apophis form, and grinned wickedly.

"This is your fate, Benuthet," he seethed. "This your future. You delay the inevitable. Don't you see? You have now donned my crown TWICE of your own volition. You are MY creature now. YOU ARE MINE!"

He lunged at me with one of the red talons…my own talons, reaching for me with a hand that he wouldn't have possessed if not for me. My heart sank. I had made a fatal mistake, and now I was going to pay the ultimate price.

Suddenly the hand that had been reaching for me was sliced clean off. Zafira stood defiantly in front of me, her obsidian blade glinting in the false moonlight of my mindscape.

"Zafira?" I asked incredulously.

Apophis hissed and retreated his arm, which was already regenerating a new hand.

"What is this?" he hissed.

"This one is mine," Zafira said glaring at the snake. "He pledged his heart to me, and I am NOT giving it back."

"You…ARRGGH!"

Apophis clearly didn't like what she had said, and lunged at me with his other hand. There was a flash of steel, and Brooklyn, and his silver blade was now standing defiantly next to Zafira.

"Nope," Brooklyn said. "Not happening Lizard-Lips. This one is mine, not yours, He's my friend, and he gave me hope again."

Apophis angrily lunged with both hands this time, only for them to be blocked by Kebechet and Fu-dog, slamming the hands to the ground. The beasts growled at Apophis.

He attempted to strike again. This time he was blocked by Isfet.

"This one is mine," she said. "He loved me, and I didn't deserve it. So I'm not letting you have him."

Apophis was growing more frustrated. He lunged again.

A hook like spear blocked him this time. Set.

"This one is mine," Set said. "He tricked Horus, and I like him. So you can't have him."

"This one is mine," Horus said, blocking yet another strike with his _khopesh._ "I have touched his mind, and he is stronger than you."

"That's now four things we agree upon," Set chuckled. "Wonders never cease."

"This one is mine," my rookery mothers said. "We raised him from a hatchling, and we will not give him to you."

"This one is mine," my mentor said. "I trained him in the magical arts, and I say that you can't have him."

"This one belongs to me," my Ram-Headed rookery brother said. He was the one I was closest to at the Library. "He is my rookery brother, and I won't let you take him."

"This one is mine," little Joshua said. The young boy had visited the Library for two years, debating the scholars and mages within, including myself. "I made him, and you can't have him, serpent."

"This one is mine," the Magus said. "He is my colleague and equal, and sought my advice…Advice to destroy you."

"This one is mine!" Caesar Augustus said. "He is a gargoyle of my Empire, and I will not give him up to some demon."

"This one is mine," Isabella Canmore said. "He brokered an alliance between myself and the Mayan Gargoyles. He gave me a chance to correct my errors, and defy wickedness."

A veritable army of every soul I had ever known and touched was now standing between me and the serpent, who looked angry…and scared.

"This one is mine," Thoth said, quietly walking out of the shadows behind me. "I named him as a hatchling, because I knew where his destiny lay."

"That's it," I said.

"I was a fool. Both times I donned your crown…I thought that I could defy you with my cool, logical mind. I thought that I could stand against your raging tempest like Ra did back before he trapped you. A lone hero standing in the storm."

"But that isn't how Ra fought you, is it?" I said. "He never journeyed into your Dark Realm alone. Every night, he entered with an entourage of his closest friends and best allies. He didn't fight you alone. He knew he couldn't win that way. He stood together with those he cared about most, and defiantly told you that THEY would not let you take the day. THEY would stand and fight your evil, every night."

Set sniffled and wiped a tear from his aardvark-like face. "Told you this _Harmakhis_ was smart. We weakened Apophis, so that Ra could strike the killing blow. He couldn't do it alone, and we couldn't do it without him."

Set handed me his spear.

"Strike the killing blow," Set said. "Just like Ra."

My eyes glowed white hot, and I lunged at the snake…And he was a snake again. With each of my loved ones who had come to my side, he had lost a bit of the attributes that he had taken from me.

I plunged Set's hooked spear in between Apophis's eyes, and the scene broke.

I was standing back in Apophis's underground temple. My younger self, still possessed by the serpent was trying to kill Brooklyn and Zafira. Firing blasts of storm magic at them.

I lunged forward and grabbed him, wrestling him to the ground, and wedging my talons underneath the crown.

"Brooklyn!" I yelled. "I need you to tear the crown from my head at the same time I tear it from his…"

In a heartbeat, both Brooklyn and Zafira were at my side, wedging their talons underneath the crown.

"On three," Brooklyn said, my younger self writhing underneath us. "One…Two…And THREE!"

We ripped the crowns from their resting places. Violent red lightning spilled everywhere, charring the walls of the cavern.

But the crown came off. Of both of us. Our bodies immediately returned to their natural state, and we collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

My younger self was unconscious.

"Will he be okay?" Brooklyn asked.

"He will awaken tomorrow night," I said. "With no memories of what happened here."

I tossed the Serpent's Crown onto the ground next to him. I took my iteration of the crown from Brooklyn, carefully wrapping it back up in the sheepskin, and stowing it in my satchel.

"He will perform a wind ceremony for Isfet—And the humans—And then return home," I continued.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brooklyn sat on the _deshret_ sands outside the entrance to the temple, petting Fu-dog.

Zafira sat next to me, her arms hugging me tight, as if I might run away from her. Kebechet lay by my side, insisting that I scratch that one spot between her ears that she couldn't quite reach.

"It all started two years ago," I said, then paused. "Wait…No…It started a year ago, but two years before I met Brooklyn. Time travel. Confusing."

"Yeah," Brooklyn said. "You can get a headache if you try and overthink it."

"I was a scholar-mage in the Library of Alexandria," I said. "The Alexandrian Clan is quite large. We roost at the Lighthouse at Pharos, as well as the Library. Most who roost at the Library are scholars and mages. We learn to read, write, cast sorcery, and prefer to train using a sword, as we like the finesse of the blade. This is why I use a _khopesh._ "

"The Lighthouse gargoyles, by comparison, are usually warriors, preferring to fight with wing, and talon to using their blade. They are often illiterate a quite mocking of the gargoyles who dwell within the Library. The Clan Leader and Second in Command are always from both cells. One from each. And each rookery generation is allowed to choose which cell they want to live in, at the age of 25."

I looked downcast.

"My generation, only two chose to dwell at the Library Cell. Myself and one of my rookery brothers. While there were many gargoyles dwelling at the Library, from older generations—And later younger ones—We were the only two from our egg clutch. It was…Lonely."

Zafira hugged me tighter.

"Then, a year ago, approximately, a pretty young serpentine female came to the Library, wishing to do research on the Tomb of Osiris. Or so she claimed anyway. Isfet—A name I didn't learn she had until tonight…That is to say, my younger self learned it tonight—also claimed to be from the Karnak Clan, far to the south. We had no means of verifying this. Since most of us don't use names, there's no way of sending a message and asking about a specific gargoyle without a very detailed description. On top of which, the clans in Egypt are fairly trusting of each other, and follow the lead of the Alexandrian Clan almost unanimously."

"So I had no reason to suspect anything she said as being false. What was more, she acted friendly, and flirtatious with me. Something I was unaccustomed to. So I fell for her flattery. I helped her look through the scrolls and do research. I even asked her to be my mate—And to my surprise, she agreed—A ruse as well. Anything to get what she wanted."

"What I didn't realize was that the Tomb of Osiris was actually a decoy. She was looking for an ancient lost tomb, but not that of Osiris. This one. The Temple of Apophis. The vilest snake in all the _deshret._ " I said. "I, of course, had found the scroll detailing it's location fairly early on in our research, but had set it aside as irrelevant, because it wasn't the correct tomb. All Isfet had to do, is read over the scrolls and tomes that I had rejected, and she found this location."

"What a fool I was," I said. "She took this scroll, having found what she needed. I thought that she had grabbed the wrong scroll, and so had chased her out here to correct her error before she did something disastrous…Like donning the Serpent's Crown. Not realizing that was exactly her intent. I told Kebechet to guard the entrance, and went down into the tomb. Where I was ambushed by four priests of the Cult of Apophis, each wearing a magically enhanced talisman to boost their strength and stamina."

"The rest you saw," I said.

"I'm so sorry Benny," Brooklyn said. "I had no idea."

"Don't be," I said. "It is my past. I do not run from it, nor do I dwell upon it. It is simply a part of who I am."

"And if not for you," I said. "This night…Would have ended very differently. We stopped Apophis from being unleashed upon the world. It is a good night."

Brooklyn nodded. There was a burst of orange light, and the Phoenix appeared above us. We all stood up.

"Well," Brooklyn said. "Looks like this is where we part ways. I love you guys."

He hugged us tightly.

"Part ways?" I asked.

"We're a year before you met me," Brooklyn said. "Probably as close to your time as we're going to get, Benuthet. Just lay low for the next year, and you should be good."

Before either of us could object, he scooped up Fu-dog, and launched himself from the sand dune towards the Phoenix.

Zafira and I took one look at each other and we instantly knew that the other was thinking. We scooped up Kebechet and launched ourselves after Brooklyn. The Phoenix reacted and gobbled all five of us up.

We tumbled through the flames and landed in the middle of a pathway through a jungle.

"What the hell guys?" Brooklyn demanded.

"You're not getting rid of us that easily!" Zafira said.

"Think of all the trouble you're going to get into without us," I said. "And besides. You haven't met the Magus for the first time from his perspective. So there's still another, CLOSER window to my time."

Kebechet and Fu-dog playfully nipped at each other, and then stopped. The two _sha_ turned and began growling.

Out of nowhere, we were surrounded by a dozen humans and gargoyles with spears aimed at us.

"Oh yeah," Brooklyn said sarcastically. "Because of you two, I am SO avoiding getting into trouble. _So_ glad you invited yourselves along."

 _The End…?_


	8. Epilogue Rome 12 AD

**Gargoyles: Timedancer;**

 _ **Vessels Epilogue**_

 _Sixteen Dances Later…_

Brooklyn, Fu-dog, Zafira, Kebechet and I looked down from the rooftop.

" _Fulminous venite!_ " my younger self yelled at Wotan. A massive blast of lighting issued forth and sent him flying backwards, into the fountain.

"I can't believe I did that," I commented dryly.

"Geeze, Benuthet!" Brooklyn's younger self yelled, helping the past version of me out of the fountain. "What the hell?"

"Mixing magics is dangerous," he said. "I took a chance."

"I'd say it worked out," Zafira said to me.

"You know the Phoenix is about to reappear and will be going to the day we met," I said. "If you want…We could jump in before they see us, and make a life with the Mayan Clan."

"I love that you make the offer," Zafira said. "But wherever we are together, that's our clan now."

"You…Blasphemers!" Wotan yelled. "What have you done to the Eye?"

"It was not meant to be a conduit for mortal Magic," My younger counterpart said staggering to his feet. "Channeling it like that triggered a primal reaction from the Eye. It is essentially a piece of the Third Race after all."

"What?" Brooklyn's previous self asked as my doppleganger helped him to his feet.

"It shapeshifted," he explained. "It is the eye of a shapeshifter, and by channeling my magic through it, I made it shapeshift."

"You know," Brooklyn's present self said, quietly. "New Olympus is a lovely island, according to Goliath. I bet you two would be great there."

"Perhaps," I said. "But I'd rather stick with you, if it's all the same to you. You're more fun. And besides. I wouldn't have met Zafira without you."

"Yeah," Brooklyn said. "Look, I don't think that—."

There was a burst of orange light as the Phoenix reappeared above them.

"Last chance to join the Maya," I said to Zafira.

"I'm good, my love," she responded.

"No, no!" Brooklyn's younger self snapped. "This has been a long freaking time coming, you stupid flaming chicken. First you drag me all over history. Fine, I can live with that. THEN, you make it impossible to find out what happened. THEN YOU DRAG ME TO CARPATHIA, TEASE ME, TAUNT ME with a girl who, I don't know…Might actually like me for once, but that's not enough for you. You had to let FREAKING DRACULA MURDER HER!"

"And now this," he continued ranting. "This psychopath here gets to have the Eye of Odin, because…That's what history says. Well screw that! History bites!"

Stunned silence from the younger counterparts of myself, Brooklyn, Fu-dog, and Wotan

"I'm not playing his game anymore," Brooklyn's counterpart said, folding his arms. "He can leave without me. I'm not leaving the Eye of Odin with this freak."

The Phoenix stared coldly at him. It started to flap its wings.

"Brooklyn, look out!" my younger self yelled, and lunged at the red gargoyle. The Phoenix snapped them up in a single bite. Fu-dog's younger self yelped and jumped into the flames after them. The Phoenix vanished.

Wotan stood there in stunned silence. Then began laughing wildly.

Zafira drew her sword and stepped forward.

"Not yet," I said. "Let him enjoy his supposed victory."

"After all," Brooklyn said. "After what we've been through? I kind of feel sorry for him."

"After de Landa, the Erlkönig, Apophis, an army of Nagas, three Hunters, Whiro, a vampire, and a voodoo queen," I agreed. "I think that we can handle one Visigoth sorcerer on a power trip. He really doesn't stand a chance."

Wotan fired a blast at the fountain, blowing it apart.

"All right," Brooklyn said. "That's about enough."

I nodded and pointed my wand.

" _Se-kebeb,_ " I said. A blast of ice struck Wotan and slammed him into the ground. Brooklyn and Zafira leapt on top of him, and pinned him down.

"What!?" Wotan yelped.

I reached down and removed the Eye of Odin from his socket. His body glowed and reverted back to normal. I slipped the Eye into my satchel.

Brooklyn and Zafira joined me, and Brooklyn held out his fist. I made a fist of my own and tapped his with mine. A sign of brotherhood he had taught me.

The _sha_ trotted up beside us.

Wotan staggered to his feet and held his staff. He began speaking in his gutteral tongue again.

" _Zeheb,_ " I said casually. A mystical hieroglyph appeared over my wand, and Wotan's spell rebounded upon itself, splintering his staff apart.

"You…" Wotan sputtered.

The five of us turned towards him, our eyes flickering.

Wotan gasped, and turned and ran.

We all smirked. The Phoenix reappeared above us.

"Ah," Brooklyn said, walking over to me and Zafira. "Good."

He hugged us tightly.

"And so we don't have a repeat of the Temple of Apophis incident…"

Before I realized what Brooklyn was doing, he drew back his fist and punched me in the face. I staggered back in surprise.

"New Olympus," Brooklyn said. "It's just right for you two."

He snatched up Fu-dog and leapt into the flames, the Phoenix vanished, leaving Zafira, Kebechet, and myself standing alone on the Roman street.

"So…," Zafira said. "He…left us behind."

"I suspect he planned it since our arrival here last week," I said. "He didn't want us to spend the rest of our lives bouncing along the timestream with him. I don't blame him."

"So…New Olympus then?" Zee asked me.

"I can't think of a better place to start a new life, with the gargoyle I love."

 _ **Never The End..**_


End file.
